Grown Women - by Sarai Johnson

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year - NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Debut Literary Work

"This is a tender, deeply perceptive tale of what kin owes kin, and how we might work to mend old wounds together."--Elle

In this stunning debut novel, four generations of complex Black women contend with motherhood and daughterhood, generational trauma and the deeply ingrained tensions and wounds that divide them as they redefine happiness and healing for themselves.

Erudite Evelyn, her cynical daughter Charlotte, and Charlotte's optimistic daughter Corinna see the world very differently. Though they love each other deeply, it's no wonder that their personalities often clash. But their conflicts go deeper than run-of-the-mill disagreements. Here, there is deep, dark resentment for past and present hurt.

When Corinna gives birth to her own daughter, Camille, the beautiful, intelligent little girl offers this trio of mothers something they all need: hope, joy, and an opportunity to reconcile. They decide to work together to raise their collective daughter with the tenderness and empathy they missed in their own relationships. Yet despite their best intentions, they cannot agree on what that means.

After Camille eventually leaves her mother and grandmother in rural Tennessee for a more cosmopolitan life in Washington, DC with her great-grandmother, it's unclear whether this complex and self-contained girl will thrive or be overwhelmed by the fears and dreams of three generations she carries. As she grows into a gutsy young woman, Camille must decide for herself what happiness will look like.

In masterful, elegant prose, debut novelist Sarai Johnson has created a rich and moving portrait of Black women's lives today.

Review Quotes

"Four generations of Black women are at the heart of this tender and expansive novel." -- The New Yorker

"[An] engaging, character-driven saga." -- Washington Post

"[A] stirring debut novel. . . . Grown Women joins a lineage of epic family dramas that erupt with long-hidden secrets, devastating losses and ghosts. . . . The novel deftly interrogates how expectations around motherhood might trap women, especially those who don't want to parent in the first place. It also probes the external realities that can mar Black women's inner lives . . . one can't help but cheer when these women do manage to reach one another's hearts." -- Los Angeles Times

"A deeply satisfying multigenerational saga of a Black family. . . . Johnson brings new life to the age-old theme of a family's cyclical dysfunction, and the narrative is packed with stunning self-reflections. . . . This is a revelation." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This is a tender, deeply perceptive tale of what kin owes kin, and how we might work to mend old wounds together." -- Elle

"Masterfully descriptive and absorbing, the book plays with perspective while illustrating each woman's hardships and resentments, as well as their dreams and joys." -- Ms. Magazine

"An absorbing debut . . . . The story takes a lively tour of the complexities of family. . . . It is wise to class markers and human contradiction. . . . A vivid line of women inches toward a place where it isn't always the mother's fault." -- Kirkus Reviews

"[A] complex and fascinating tale of a family of women determined to be there for their girl." -- Book Riot

"Sarai Johnson's family saga is an ambitious novel that accomplishes a lot. It is a visceral and provocative examination of motherhood. It's a tear-jerker seeped in nuance and tenderness. But, ultimately, Grown Women is a riveting portrait of four generations who toil endlessly to free themselves from the past." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Grown Women took my breath away. A skillfully written story about the complexities of love, control, motherhood, and trying your best even when you think your best isn't good enough, it's heartbreakingly honest, emotionally immersive, and painfully poignant. A master class in depicting the overt and the subtle effects of generational trauma and the self-strengthening power of forgiveness." -- Jessica George, New York Times bestselling author of Maame

"A whirlwind of a story that serves as an invitation to consider all that makes a family, all that breaks a family. Four generations, four remarkable women, four stunning stories of heartbreak, commitment, and courage. You will want to root for them all, but more importantly you will root for forgiveness, root for love." -- Lauren Francis-Sharma, author of 'Til the Well Runs Dry and Book of the Little Axe

"A beautifully drawn family portrait, GROWN WOMEN examines our most deeply held beliefs about love, responsibility, security, and independence. On every page, I was struck by the sharpness of Johnson's prose and the specificity and complexity with which she honors her characters. Johnson is a generous, confident storyteller whose debut you don't want to miss." -- Emily Adrian, author of The Second Season

"Grown Women is Sarai Johnson's beautiful debut novel about how four generations of Black women move forward in love despite the trauma and tension of their pasts." -- The Root

"Debut novelist Sarai Johnson created four generations of Black mothers and daughters to tackle the questions that came up in her own life: What does forgiveness look like? Can cycles of trauma be broken? Can a daughter truly leave her mother's mistakes in the past? Grown Women expertly probes for answers via the lives of Evelyn, Charlotte, Corinna and Camille." -- MPR News

"[A]n eloquent story of multiple generations of Black women navigating their lives against a nonlinear backdrop of American motherhood . . . . Joining a recent array of books that center Black womanhood, Grown Women at its core is as much a tale of unraveling the mother wound as it is of discovering personal freedom. The book refreshingly decenters any gazes other than those of Black women, which are sometimes overlooked by mainstream media. It's important for readers of any background to see the humanity in these women's everyday lives." -- Chapter 16

"Beautifully rendered, intricately delving into the bonds of multi-generational relationships with raw honesty, great emotional depth, and skillful storytelling. Johnson expertly weaves together the complexities of love, forgiveness, and self-discovery; creating a narrative that is both heartbreakingly real and profoundly moving." -- Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of And So I Roar

"I rooted hard for the women of this heartfelt novel--through their messy contradictions, their reckonings, their painful choices and their hard-won triumphs. Grown Women is a tender story about mothers and daughters and the ties that bind us, those gossamer threads that can be reinforced or broken so easily. But it's also a poignant testament to the joy and pain of being a grown woman." -- Christine Pride, co-author of You Were Always Mine

"GROWN WOMEN is beautifully written, compassionately told, and deeply explored, but the word I'll be using to recommend it to everyone is 'complicated.' These characters are messy, difficult, and capricious and also passionate, devoted, and smart as hell. Sarai Johnson's debut novel covers a lot of the rockiest of ground, all of it thoughtful and impressive and, in the end, the reason we read." -- Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This is How It Always Is and Family Family