The word "home" means something different to each of us. Mickey Pearlman has gathered together a group of writing women whose memories of home present a panorama of experience: Sandra Benítez, Maxine Hong Kingston, Mary Morris, Kathryn Harrison, Francine Prose, Arlene Hirschfelder, Erica Jong, Jill McCorkle, Melinda Worth Popham, Julie Smith, lucille clifton, Dani Shapiro, Marci Hershman, Meg Pei, Carole Maso, Rosellen Brown, Jane Shapiro, Sylvia Watanabe, and Lois Lowry. These writers look back to a place that sometimes appears as solid and unyielding as a piece of granite, but is actually as vital and elusive as a heartbeat. They remember firstborn children, destructive fires, homelessness, cherished workplaces, the sting of racism, and the safety of language while they dream again of the smell of rising bread, the sound of a daughter’s voice, and the scent of wet morning grass. A Place Called Home: Twenty Writing Women Remember is a collection of original writing that you will cherish, give to others, and come to regard not only as a book, but as a letter from a friend.

本書が描く「家」とは、物理的な建物ではなく、岩のような厳然たる事実と鼓動のように揺らぐ記憶が織りなす魂の地図です。二十人の女性作家が、人種差別の痛みや家族の情愛を、焼き立てのパンの匂いや湿った草の香りといった五感を揺さぶる文体で綴ります。 特筆すべきは、言語という聖域を介してアイデンティティを再構築するその文学的強靭さです。各々のエッセイは、一冊の書物という枠を超え、親愛なる友からの手紙のように読者の孤独に寄り添います。失われた過去を惜しむのではなく、記憶の中に「不変の居場所」を打ち立てようとする彼女たちの情熱は、私たちの心の奥底に眠る原風景を鮮やかに照らし出すことでしょう。