Guest Author - Khara

Babylon Sisters by Pearl Cleage


Sometimes it feels like it is SO HARD hard to find a good black book, with writing and characters that not only entertain you, but also make you proud. Finally, I found (another) one! If you remember any of her other works, especially my favorite, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, then you already no that Pearl Cleage tells a compassionate, intelligent story. Babylon Sisters is no exception.



Babylon Sisters is the story of thirty-eight-year-old Catherine Sanderson, a strong black woman who’s making a difference in this world. She’s a woman who has dedicated her life to improving her community by working with immigrant women and helping them find jobs and housing in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. She has also raised a beautiful, intelligent daughter all on her own, and seventeen-year-old Phoebe Sanderson is finishing her senior year at a fancy, private boarding school and is all but headed to Smith College.


But Catherine’s peaceful, organized life is due for a few interruptions. In order to pay for Phoebe’s expensive college tuition, Catherine takes on a job with a new client – the reknowned, eccentric black millionaire named Miss Ezola Mandeville. (Emphasis on the “Miss.”) But Miss Mandeville, who runs a house-keeping business, appears to be involved through an unsavory business partner in a forced-prostitution ring with immigrant women. Catherine can’t figure out exactly what they’re up to, or even whether Miss Mandeville is actually knows what her partner is doing to her well-reputed business.


At the same time, Phoebe has become ever more curious about the identity of her father, whom she has never met. In fact, BJ Johnson, the only man Catherine has ever loved, does not even know that he has a daughter. When BJ suddenly comes to Atlanta, Catherine is faced with the challenge of confessing to him that he has a seventeen-year-old daughter. To makes matters more complicated, BJ, a veteran newspaper reporter, knows more about Atlanta’s forced-prostitution ring than he’s letting on. When the savvy criminals realize that Catherine and her friends know too much, the close-knit group is faced with more than family drama. All of their lives are in danger.


This novel has everything—good writing and a good story. Smart, intriguing, real characters. And it deals with real issues – poverty, the exploitation of women and children, money, power, greed, secrecy, love and trust. I love Catherine, and I especially love it that she is the kind of strong black women who really is real. She has taken care of herself and her family, and using her brains and her financial assets to do things that matter. No designer clothes or jacuzzis, but a superb education and exposure to the many different cultures of the world for herself and her daughter. And this book is about empowered women, and women empowering women, hence the title, “Babylon Sisters.” (If you don’t get the title now, you’ll understand it better as you read the book.) This book is one of the best black fiction novels that I’ve read all year. Read and enjoy!