by Grace Paley
First published 1993
Grace Paley brings readers into kitchens in the Bronx where mothers fold laundry while news from El Salvador plays on television. She walks through New Hampshire woods where protesters plan their next march. Her characters move between quiet domestic moments and urgent political action. A woman tends her garden while remembering friends lost in Vietnam. Children play in city streets as their parents organize against war. Paley captures people who find beauty in ordinary days yet refuse to stay silent about injustice. Vera Williams adds watercolor scenes that mirror these lives. The collaboration shows how personal and political worlds connect. These are stories about people who cook dinner and attend rallies, who love their families and fight for strangers across the world.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-is-political
Setting: Bronx, El Salvador, New Hampshire, Vietnam
Period: 20th-century
80 pages · Paperback · The Feminist Press at CUNY