Sarah's Psalm - by Florence Ladd (Paperback)

About the Book

Against the background of the civil rights movement and the beginnings of Afrocentrism in the late 1960s, Florence Ladd tells the story of a young African-American woman's search for her love and identity--a journey that takes her from Massachusetts to Senegal, and from a stifling marriage to a life filled with the riches of a new culture, marriage, and motherhood.

Book Synopsis

This searing first novel is the story of Sarah Stewart, a young black Harvard graduate in the 1960s whose growing interest in Africa--and down a path of self-discovery, love, and the choice between loyalty and truth.
This is at once the story of the emerging civil rights movement and the beginning of Afro-centrism. Lyrical. Lyrical, moving, and ultimately uncompromising, Sarah's Psalm is also a powerful story of love and coming of age.

Review Quotes

Jayne Anne Phillips A moving testament to one woman's complex journey through the heartland of the self.

Karen Grigsby Bates Los Angeles Times Ladd's finely crafted story...is a valuable addition to the ever-widening world of African-American letters.

Rebecca Nemser Boston Magazine Ladd is a true storyteller, and Sarah's story has the making of a modern myth.

Rosellen Brown A painful and...joyous book.

About the Author

Florence Ladd, writer, psychologist, and social critic, is the director of Radcliffe College's Bunting Institute, renowned as the largest and most unique multidisciplinary center of advanced studies for women scholars, artists, and activists. For many years she has studied gender and social issues, housing and urban development, and conditions that influence the status of black women in the United States and abroad. Ladd served as the associate executive director for Oxfam American prior to joining Radcliffe. She has taught at Simmons College, Robert College, the American College of Girls in Istanbul, and Harvard University's Graduate School of Education and Graduate School of Design. She was associate dean of M.I.T.'s School of Architecture and Planning and later Dean of Students at Wellesley College. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.