This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Color Purple copyright © 1982 by Alice Walker

Preface copyright © 1992 by Alice Walker

The Temple of My Familiar copyright © 1989 by Alice Walker

Excerpt from Orlando, copyright 1928 by Virginia Woolf, renewed 1956 by Leonard Woolf, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Excerpt from “Give Me Something” by Yoko Ono, © 1980 by Lenono Music. All rights controlled and administered by SBK Blackwood Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

Possessing the Secret of Joy copyright © 1992 by Alice Walker

Preface copyright © 2008 by Alice Walker

Permission to use the extract from African Saga by Mirella Ricciardi was granted by Lorenzo Ricciardi.

Cover design by Kimberly Glyder

978-1-4532-7643-3

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com

colophon