The secret of joy

The Secret of Joy presents the life story of Tashi, an African heroine torn between the imposition of tradition and the happiness of discovering herself as the subject of her own life.

Here, Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for The Color Purple , presents the public, once again, with her gift and courage to tell stories of violence and bravery in a fascinating way.

Tashi first appears in The Color Purple , representing the (fictional) Olinka people. The character's power was so intense that it compelled the author to explore her universe in another book. Here, Tashi's story is not a continuation of the first novel, but a novella in its own right.

Raised in the depths of Africa and later brought to the United States, her desire to honor traditions leads her to pursue female genital mutilation. This courageous choice, however, reveals the beginning of a painful physical and psychological process that will involve all those touched by her journey—even the renowned psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung. The tortuous paths of Tashi's mind will lead her characters and her readers through a representative battle to uncover the origin myth of women's oppression.

In The Secret of Joy, Alice Walker provides further proof of the power of fiction to fascinate and reveal to all of us a little of the mystery of resistance and happiness in the face of oppression and anguish.

“ The Secret of Joy […] focuses on one of the most debated and shocking issues in feminism, and places this book among Alice Walker’s most powerful works.” – The New York Times

“Extraordinary, courageous, and stunning… Alice Walker’s remarkable compassion shines through on every page.” – Cosmopolitan

“As captivating as… The color purple .” – San Francisco Chronicle

“Exceptional… a magnificent fiction.” – New York Daily News