![]() She fulfills her duty towards her other children clothes and feeds them but she is unable to connect with them in a substantive way. As each of the children and grandchildren tells his or her own story, we see how Hattie's deep sadness as a young mother impacts her ability to connect to most of her children. In fact, devotion and its intersection with love is one of the central ruminations of the novel. Hattie's challenges seem insurmountable, but she remains devoted to her children. August's devotion to his wife ends at the jingle of the local juke and the sashay of another woman's skirts. ![]() Each year brings a new child and another mouth to feed. As the story unfolds, and disappointments accrue, Hattie's initial vibrancy fades to a terse, hard-lipped discontent. She names the children Philadelphia and Jubilee to celebrate the brightness of her new life. ![]() ![]() Full of hope for the future and amazed by the differences between her childhood home in Georgia and the progressive northern city, she marries August and has twins. Hattie arrives in Philadelphia in 1923, as part of the Great Migration, the huge tide of African Americans that left the South for other areas of the United States between 1910-1970. This powerful debut successfully captures the black experience in mid-20th century America by narrating various facets of one mother's life through the voices of her children.Īyana Mathis's debut novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is a stunning, penetrating portrait of a woman through the eyes of her children. ![]()
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