Sissie: A Novel

The powerful story of a vibrant African American family torn apart by inner turmoil and the injustices perpetrated by a racist society

Sissie Joplin is dying, and her surviving children have come to say good-bye. Estranged from their mother for years, Iris and Ralph have both achieved success—Iris as a jazz singer in Europe and Ralph as a playwright—but the pain of their youth remains forever alive in their memories.

Sissie, too, remembers: the bitter struggles and the devastating tra...