Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclairs father, a volatile reggae musician and a militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, was obsessed with the ever-present threat of the corrupting evils of the Western world outside their home, and worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure. For him, a womans highest virtue was her obedience.

Safiyas extraordinary mother, though loyal to her father, gave her the one gift she knew would take Safiya beyond the stretch of beach and mountains in Jamaica their family called home: a world of books, knowledge, and education she conjured almost out of thin air. When she introduced Safiya to poetry, Safiyas voice awakened. As she watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under relentless domesticity, Safiyas rebellion against her fathers rules set her on an inevitable collision course with him. Her education became the sharp tool to hone her own poetic voice and carve her path to liberation.

A National Book Critics Circle Award Winner.