The 12 tribes of hattie6/22/2023 ![]() ![]() When I finished it, I had to be still for a moment. The book’s ending is the most perfect ever. I went to bed after reading the chapter about Hattie’s eldest surviving son, “Lady Boy Floyd,” and woke up the next morning thinking Floyd was a real person. ![]() While the paths their lives take are all very different, they share the scars inflicted by a mother who long ago lost the ability to be tender. Her 11 children and one grandchild are Hattie’s “12 tribes”-whom we meet sequentially in 12 distinct narrative threads. ![]() The novel tells the story of Hattie Shepherd, who leaves Georgia for Philadelphia in 1923. This book was so astonishing, it left me speechless. Before I’d even finished the first chapter, I knew I’d found my second Oprah Book Club 2.0 pick. It was an advance copy-the book hadn’t yet been published. Several months ago, I sat down to read The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, the debut novel by 39-year-old Ayana Mathis. In honor of the 10th anniversary of Mathis’s book release, we’re revisiting her interview with Oprah. This story originally appeared as “The Opening Pages Took My Breath Away” in the January 2013 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. ![]()
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