FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SUGAR

This Bitter Earth

A moving story on loss and learning to heal, which will leave you rooting for Sugar as she uncovers each hardship the townsfolk around her are secretly battling

Bernice L. McFadden is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), and Glorious, which was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. She is a three-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the BCALA. McFadden lives in Brooklyn, New York. First Born Girls is her first memoir.

The sequel to Bernice L. McFadden's incredible classic debut and the Richard and Judy 2021 Book Club pick, Sugar 
 
In This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she'd come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn't stop until she arrives at her childhood home in Short Junction. Here she learns the truth about her parentage: a terrible tale of unrequited love, of one man's enduring hatred, and of the black magic that has cursed generations of Lacey women. 
 
A powerfully realised novel that brings back the unforgettable characters from Sugar, McFadden's bestselling debut, This Bitter Earth is a testament to the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. 
 
Reader reviews for Sugar 
 
'Such an enjoyable read... beautifully written, raw and impactful' 
'Riveting, heart-breaking' 
'Very powerful, poignant' 
'Beautifully written... brutal and moving... a must read book' 
'Well-written with rich characters and many twists and turns' 
'So descriptive yet easy to read, and it made me fall in love with all the characters'

Four Generations, One Extraordinary Story

Firstborn Girls

Firstborn Girls, Bernice McFadden’s riveting memoir, cements her position as one of America’s most creative and necessary writers. Like Toni Morrison who focused her lens specifically on the lives of Black people, and hence told a universal story, so too does McFadden. With Firstborn Girls she has produced a vital and stunningly gorgeous work, again

Firstborn Girls does what Bernice McFadden does better than absolutely everybody, it takes you on a journey through the ages that makes you feel all of your feelings unabashedly. What makes it more special in her first non-fiction book is that it's her story, her real, lived experience that she has boldly invited us to journey alongside her. Her ability to tell a story makes it one of the most engrossing memoirs I have read in a long time and allows you to forget that it is the real life of a family with such a rich and interesting history. People will talk about these Firstborn Girls for years to come!

TARANA BURKE, activist and author of Unbound

Remarkable… Firstborn Girls is an absolute treasure

DEESHA PHILYAW, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Firstborn Girls is both a moving memoir and a powerful examination of race and gender in America. This book took me on a journey through pain and joy, revealing how these women’s lives intertwined and how history seemed to echo through each generation. There’s no sugar-coating here. These women’s lives are laid bare before us, warts and all—not to be judged, but to be admired for their strength and survival. Bernice L. McFadden has given us a significant work that demands our attention, respect, and, most importantly, our gratitude for her courage in telling her story

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the bestselling and award-winning author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick Sugar, and eight other novels. She's won the American Book Award, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the BCALA. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Firstborn Girls is her first memoir.

An astonishing, intimate and powerful memoir by the author of Richard and Judy Book Club pick Sugar 
 
'Bernice McFadden’s riveting memoir cements her position as one of America’s most creative and necessary writers' SAPPHIRE 
 
On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died. She was in a car crash on the motorway turnoff to Detroit. For a few minutes, she was clinically dead. From the moment of her resuscitation, we follow a remarkable life, all the way up to the publication of her first novel, Sugar. 
 
In 80s Brooklyn, growing up in terror of her alcoholic father, young Bernice loses herself in books, finding solace in summer trips to her aunt's home in Barbados and escaping to boarding school. But it’s not until she reads Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, stories about ‘messy, beautiful, joyful Black people’ so reminiscent of her loved ones, that she sees herself within their pages. 
 
Bernice’s family story begins in Sandersville, Georgia, with freedwoman Louisa Vicey Wilson in 1870. Her descendants survived Reconstruction, Jim Crow, joined the ‘great migration’, cried when Dr King was assassinated during The Civil Rights Movement. Wisdom, secrets, and fierce love are passed down through generations of women like Lou’s handmade quilt. 
 
Tracing her roots gives Bernice the strength to write her own story, liberating herself from generational trauma while honouring her ancestors. A memoir of many threads, Firstborn Girls is an extraordinarily moving account of a life shaped both by family history and a drive to be something more. 
 
'Remarkable... Firstborn Girls is an absolute treasure' DEESHA PHILYAW

Bernice L. McFadden

Sugar is young, confident and hoping to start over. 
 
'Poignant and bittersweet, this novel is a joy' Richard & Judy 
 
When she arrives in the southern town of Bigelow, it isn’t long before the neighbourhood is alight with gossip and suspicion. Sugar fears her past is catching up with her. Then she meets Pearl, a woman trying to forget her own trauma. As these next-door neighbours become unlikely friends, they wonder if their lives could finally be changing for the better. But small towns have long memories. 
 
Perfect for fans of Demon Copperhead and The Bluest Eye, Sugar is a classic waiting to be rediscovered. 
 
'Riveting... Searing and expertly imagined' TONI MORRISON on The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden 
 
'A page-turning novel guaranteed to be looked back on as a timeless classic' INDEPENDENT 
 
'This book is so engaging and beautiful and intriguing and satisfying that I could not put it down' ELLE 
 
Readers are falling for Sugar 
 
'Such an enjoyable read... beautifully written, raw and impactful' 
'Riveting, heart-breaking' 
'Very powerful, poignant' 
'Beautifully written... brutal and moving... a must read book' 
'Well-written with rich characters and many twists and turns' 
'So descriptive yet easy to read, and it made me fall in love with all the characters' 
 
Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, Autumn 2021

Bernice L. McFadden

Sugar

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