The stunningNew York Timesbestseller, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author ofThe Color Purple, reissued in a handsome new edition with a brand-new preface
“A remarkable novel. . . . Walker has pulled off an amazing feat here: she’s written a powerful novel about brutal misogyny, and she’s made it both horrifying and readable, angry and warmhearted, political and human.” —Newsweek
From the author theNew York Times Book Reviewcalls “a lavishly gifted writer,” this is the searing story of Tashi, a tribal African woman first glimpsed inThe Color Purplewhose fateful decision to submit to thetsunga’sknife and be genitally mutilated leads to a trauma that informs her life and fatefully alters her existence.Possessing the Secret of Joy, out of print for a number of years, was the first novel to deal with this controversial topic and managed to do so in a manner thatCosmopolitancalled “masterful, honorable, and unforgettable storytelling.” The New Press is proud to bring the book back into print with a new preface by the author addressing the book’s initial reception and the changed attitudes toward female genital mutilation that have come about in part because of this book.
