GirlChild - Paperback

by Morenike' Matory (Author)

The Singleton family of Huguenot Island, South Carolina are a proud but humble one. They work to drive the legacy of their once enslaved ancestors through ownership of a restaurant and land. Life seems fulfilling for the Gullah family but Sparrow Singleton is not happy. She is tired of being ridiculed for her native creole and she is fed up with bad spirits leeching off her innocent little sister at night. At the age of eighteen, Sparrow leaves home after graduation, vowing that nothing short of a miracle can make her return.

Little Dove Singleton has struggled with infertility all of her adult life. She has endured her share of miscarriages and stillbirths. Finally, ten years after Sparrow ran away, she carries a girl child to full term. The family deems the birth the miracle needed to get Sparrow to visit home.
Upon her return home, Sparrow is immediately faced with tragedy when Little Dove dies from postpartum complications; her dying wish being that Sparrow raises her baby the Gullah way. As if facing her sister's death and taking on a newborn wasn't enough, Sparrow learns that real estate developers have been aggressively pursuing her family's sacred land.

Sparrow faces the dilemma of disregarding her sister's dying wish and returning to the new life she spent years building. But the spirit of her ancestors and the fading memory of her Gullah roots tug at her heart. Will Sparrow face her new reality or abandon her family again?

GirlChild is a poignant story about the preservation of culture, the spirit of heritage, and the resiliency of family.