BAILEYS CAFE

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY IRENOSEN OKOJIE

''Gloria Naylor is gifted with timeless wisdom, bottomless empathy, and limitless language. Her novels will shine a light for readers and writers for generations to come'' Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage, winner of the Women''s Prize for Fiction

In post-World War II Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, there''s a little place that draws people from all over-not for the food, and definitely not for the coffee. An in-between place that''s only there when you need it, Bailey''s Cafe is a crossroads where patrons stay for a while before making a choice: Move on or check out?

Patrons include Sadie, the ladylike alcoholic with a mania for cleanliness; Sweet Esther, who caters to unspeakable appetites in a nearby ''boarding house'', taking payment only in white roses; and Mariam, the Ethiopian child who may be the bearer of a miracle. Naylor''s breath-taking novel is an enthralling fusion of lives whose courage, mystery and humour suggest nothing less than a blues tapestry of America.


''Gloria Naylor was one of the greatest novelists who ever lived. Every single one of her works was masterful, crafted with the kind of rare artistic brilliance that places her in extremely limited company . . . She holds a hallowed place in the canon, and also in hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits'' Robert Jones, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets