Keynote
Now in paperback, an engrossing memoir of escaping civil war in Liberia and building a life in the United States
Book Title
The Dragons, the Giant, the Women
Subtitle
A Memoir
Cover Image
- Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
Longlisted for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Body
When Wayétu Moore turns five in Monrovia, Liberia, all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised, war breaks out in Liberia, and her family is forced to flee their home, walking and hiding for weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on another journey, this time to the United States.
Spanning this harrowing time in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a Black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect migrants around the world, and calls on us to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family.
Spanning this harrowing time in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a Black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect migrants around the world, and calls on us to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family.
List Price
$16.00
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About the Author
Credit: Ashleigh Staton
Praise
- “Immersive, exhilarating. . . . This memoir adds an essential voice to the genre of migrant literature, challenging false popular narratives that migration is optional, permanent and always results in a better life.”—The New York Times Book Review
- “In her bruising new memoir, Moore describes the perilous journey as well as her experience of being a black immigrant living in the American South. Through it all, she threads an urgent narrative about the costs of survival and the strength of familial love.”—TIME
- “Building to a thrumming crescendo, the pages almost fly past. Readers will be both enraptured and heartbroken by Moore’s intimate yet epic story of love for family and home.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
- “Wayétu Moore has written an elegant, inspired, page-turning memoir I couldn’t put down. Destined to become a classic!”—Mary Karr
