From the author the
New York Times Book Review
calls "a lavishly gifted writer," this is the searing story of Tashi, a tribal African woman first glimpsed in
The Color Purple
whose fateful decision to submit to the
tsunga's
knife and be genitally mutilated leads to a trauma that informs her life and fatefully alters her existence.
Possessing the Secret of Joy
, out of print for a number of years, was the first novel to deal with this controversial topic and managed to do so in a manner that
Cosmopolitan
called "masterful, honorable, and unforgettable storytelling." The New Press is proud to bring the book back into print with a new preface by the author addressing the book's initial reception and the changed attitudes toward female genital mutilation that have come about in part because of this book.