Nowhere Is a Place Quotes

“Women were always ready to give themselves over for love, when all the men really had to offer them was the word and not the meaning behind it.”
― Bernice L. McFadden, Nowhere Is a Place

“Almost eight years, and Edison had only slipped and called her a nigger once. She’d been in no hurry to forgive him for it, but he’d apologized profusely—and had cried and played Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” over and over again on his piano before she let him back into their bedroom.”
― Bernice L. McFadden, Nowhere Is a Place

“Sherry was just six years old on that day when she sat curled up in her Uncle Beanie Moe’s lap, one arm slung across his neck, the other fingering the string of blue beads he’d brought her back from New Orleans. Her mother, Dumpling, had walked into the room smiling, then stopped and stared as the smile froze and cracked on her face. Sherry couldn’t have known that her sitting innocently on her uncle’s knee would hurtle her mother back in time—back to a warm Easter afternoon when a misplaced hand had suddenly turned ugly. Dumpling’s eyes went glassy as she marched over to them, lifted her hand into the air, and brought it down across Sherry’s six-year-old face so hard, the girl had ended up kissing the floor and seeing stars. Dumpling had never said why she slapped Sherry, and Beanie Moe hadn’t asked. He just helped Sherry up and carried her over to the couch and sat her down. He comforted her with words, but didn’t dare touch her. Dumpling, she just stormed out of the room, leaving the slight scent of Ivory soap swirling in the air.”
― Bernice L. McFadden, Nowhere Is a Place