The light stains my nightdress with blotches of blue, green and red, and I lean over the back of a chair, waiting, breathing. This strong sophomore effort will bolster her reputation.The early morning light filters through the empty bottles which clutter our caravan’s kitchen table. The first-person narration is convincing and genuine, and Jones handles her material with sensitivity and sympathy. When a second doctor confirms Aria's condition, she is forced to make difficult choices with the shadow of her past looming over her.

Dwayne's desire for a child remains strong, and Aria watches with growing envy as Keisha's pregnancy progresses. Reluctant to tell Dwayne the truth, Aria claims to have lost the baby. But when mysterious cramping sends her to the doctor, Aria learns that she is not pregnant but instead experiencing very early menopause. When Aria believes she is pregnant, she confides in Keisha before sharing the news with her fianc, Dwayne. After graduating from Spelman, Aria goes to work at a local literacy center, where she is drawn to outspoken Keisha Evers, a young teen pregnant with her second child. As a young girl, native Atlantan Aria Jackson lost her father and baby sister in a car accident her inability to comfort her dying father, and her mother's failed effort to save the baby, have damaged their relationship. The legacy of a fatal accident haunts surviving family members in Jones's deep-felt second novel (after Leaving Atlanta). 'Tayari Jones is a wonderful storyteller.' - Ploughshares

'Tayari Jones has emerged as one of the most important voices of her generation.' - Essence 'Tayari Jones is blessed with vision to see through to the surprising and devastating truths at the heart of ordinary lives, strength to wrest those truths free, and a gift of language to lay it all out, compelling and clear.' - Michael Chabon The truth is about to make her question her every assumption and reevaluate the life she has worked so hard to build for herself.as it sends her reeling in a direction she had no idea she was destined to go. And although relations with her remaining family are strained, she's done her best to establish a solid, normal life for herself, living in Atlanta and teaching literacy to girls who have fallen on hard times.īut now she has a secret that she's not yet ready to share with Dwayne, her devoted boyfriend, or Rochelle, her roommate and best friend: Aria is pregnant. From the author of the Oprah Book Club Selection An American Marriage, here is an emotionally powerful novel that 'succeeds uly a wonderful story' (Boston Globe).Īria is no stranger to tragedy - as a young girl, she and her older sister and mother survived a car crash that took the lives of their father and beloved baby sister.

The untelling