A glorious chronicle of a life like none other - enlightening entertaining surprising
empowering - and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood. "You are
Celestine " she said. She squatted to push the hair off my face and pull leaves off my pajama
legs. "Like my sister and my grandmother." And there under the pecan tree as she did countless
times that day my mother told me stories of the mothers and daughters that went before me.
Tina Knowles the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter Solange Knowles
and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a
determined self-possessed self-aware and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great
artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that. Matriarch begins with a
precocious if unruly little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston the youngest of seven. She is
in love with her world with extended family on every other porch and the sounds of Motown and
the lapping beach always within earshot. But as the realities of race and the limitations of
girlhood set in she begins to dream of the world beyond. Her instincts and impulsive nature
drive her far beyond the shores of Texas to discover the life awaiting her on the other side of
childhood. That life's journey-through grief and tragedy creative and romantic risks and
turmoil the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts-is the remarkable
story she shares with readers here. This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and
heartbreak of loss and perseverance and of the kind of creativity audacity and will it takes
for a girl from Galveston to change the world. It's one brilliant woman's intimate and
revealing story and a multigenerational family saga that carries within it the story of
America-and the wisdom that women pass on to each other mothers to daughters across
generations.
