A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick
Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the corrupting influences of the Western world. The women in her family were made to wear long dresses, head wraps, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother nonetheless gave Safiya the gift of books, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle under the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a tool with which to find her voice and break free.