AS HEARD ON THE BACKLISTED PODCAST 'No novel about any Black woman could ever be the same
after this' TONI MORRISON 'Corregidora (1975) was both shocking and ground-breaking in its
probing of the psychological legacy of slavery and sexual ownership' MAYA JAGGI GUARDIAN
'Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred and is
occurring in the souls of Black men and women' JAMES BALDWIN 'A literary giant and one of
my absolute favourite writers' TAYARI JONES author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE 'An American
writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance of history in the blood' JOHN UPDIKE NEW
YORKER Upon publication in 1975 Corregidora was hailed as a masterpiece winning acclaim
from writers including James Baldwin Maya Angelou Toni Morrison and John Updike. Exploring
themes such as race sexuality and the long repercussions of slavery this powerful novel paved
the way for Beloved and The Colour Purple. Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of
Corregidora the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother.
Charged with 'making generations' to bear witness to the abuse embodied in the family name
Ursa Corregidora finds herself unable to keep alive this legacy when she is made sterile in a
violent fight with her husband. Haunted by the ghosts of a Brazilian plantation pained by a
present of lovelessness and despair Ursa slowly and firmly strikes her own terms with
womanhood.
