The Healing - Virago Modern Classics (Paperback)

An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history * New Yorker *
An important American writer . . . The Healing examines precisely what its title announces: healing from silence, from physical attacks and treachery, from spiritual and cultural isolation, from the pain of old-fashioned, aching, bluesy love . . . It is also a very funny book . . . A moving affirmation of forgiveness and trust . . . The Healing should be cause for hope, sustenance and even celebration * New York Times *
Compelled by the southern speech and taut, sparring dialogue of the early fiction, [The Healing] has a witty, savvy, sometimes cynical edge . . . As Harlan trawls black culture, Jones slyly combines folksy, vernacular wisdom with discursive flights. Into this fluid pastiche she mixes pop culture - Oprah, Denzel, Tina Turner - with allusions to Chaucer, Henry James, Ralph Ellison, Ishmael Reed . . . the novel's richness lies in its entertaining meandering, and the vitality of its spoken rhythms * Guardian *
Gayl Jones's work remains essential and vital; I will be rereading her catalogue for the rest of my life * Nylon *
One of the most distinguished African American women of letters, Jones offers her first novel to be published in twenty years. It is gripping, beautiful and well worth the wait * Ms. Magazine *