Transcendent Kingdom by  Yaa Gyasi

Transcendent Kingdom

Yaa Gyasi

Gifty and Nana are Ghanaian children growing up in Alabama, like fish out of water. This is the story of how it all goes wrong for Nana, and how Gifty and her mother are traumatised by events, and have to learn to cope in their own very different ways. A harrowing, heart-rending but ultimately heart-warming story.

Extract

Nana was thirteen when he graduated from children's church and moved on to youth group services. I missed him during Sunday school when the children's pastor pulled out her puppets and Nana reluctantly went across the hall to listen to P.T's teachings. I started to get a little restless in those services, squirming around in my seat and asking to go to the bathroom every five minutes, until, finally the pastors decided it would be all right for me to go to Sunday school with Nana as long as I returned to children's church during regular service hours. In those early-morning classes, Nana sat as far away from me as possible, but I didn't mind. 

Parallels
  • I Know How the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  • Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
  • Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
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Violence