Possessing the Secret of Joy

The stunningNew York Timesbestseller, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofThe Color Purple, reissued in a handsome new edition. From the author theNew York Times Book Reviewcalls "a lavishly gifted writer," this is the searing story of Tashi, a tribal African woman first glimpsed inThe Color Purplewhose 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 thatCosmopolitancalled "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.