Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood

Journalist and novelist Turner (Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven) delivers an immersive and often heartbreaking portrait of life in the historic Bronzeville section of Chicago. Raised in Chicago in the 1970s, Turner traces her roots in Bronzeville to her great-grandparents, who left Mississippi during the first wave of the Great Migration. Interweaving her own journey from childhood to adulthood with those of her best friend, Debra, and her younger sister, Kim, Turner sets the trio’s personal tragedies and triumphs against the backdrop of a post–civil rights era landscape that saw dreams of racial equality dashed. She vividly describes the community’s deteriorating conditions, including crowded schools, escalating drug and gang violence, and crumbling buildings, as well as more intimate matters, including her discovery of her journalistic vocation, Kim’s teenage pregnancy and descent into alcoholism, and Debra’s path into drug use, which resulted in her incarceration for murder. Throughout, Turner’s grandmother, mother, and aunt exhibit the resilience and strength of many Black women, a theme that takes its most affecting form in Debra’s rehabilitation. By turns beautiful, tragic, and inspiring, this is a powerful testament to the bonds of sisterhood and the importance of understanding the conditions that shape a person’s life choices. Agent: David Doerrer, A3 Artists Agency. (Aug.)