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Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo

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What to expect

Ntozake Shange’s most beloved novel, Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, is the story of three “colored girls,” three sisters and their mama from Charleston, South Carolina. Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother, gone north to college and living with other artists in Los Angeles, trying to weave a life out of her work, her man, her memories, and her dreams. Cypress, the dancer, leaves home to find new ways of moving and easing the contractions of her soul. Indigo, the youngest, is still a child of Charleston—with “too much of the South in her”—who lives in poetry, can talk to her dolls, and has a great gift of seeing the obvious magic of the world.

This story of three sisters making their way in an often hostile world is a touching celebration of womanhood.

Critics Review

“Miss Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anybody can relate to her message.”

New York Times

“A marvel…Languages—colloquial, established, lyric—play together like the most lush chamber music, the coolest jazz, the brassiest marches, the hippest jug band…[It] leaves us filled with joy and yearning for more.”

Philadelphia Inquirer

“A jubilant celebration of womanhood—as moving as the moon…pure magic.”

Kansas City Star

“Possessed of poetry, motion, and light…Shange’s tale is poignant, surprising, and deep as she looks at the different worlds of women and their special places therein.”

Publishers Weekly
Author Ntozake Shange
Narrator Allyson Johnson
Duration 7 hours and 4 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781481556637
Format Audiobook
Publisher Blackstone Publishing
Genre ‘Street’ fiction, Fiction: general and literary
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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