The icon of African-American literature, her epoch-making work: Maya Angelou grows up in her grandmother's grocery store on the edge of a cotton plantation in the 1930s. For her and her brother, a place of magic and play in the midst of a black community that hatred and poverty threaten to wipe out ... This book tells the story of a defiant girl fighting against unimaginable odds. And at the same time, it sings the most beautiful hymn to the world-changing power of words, of imagination, of tenderness in the face of horror. "A revelation and my talisman." Oprah Winfrey "She had nineteen talents, used ten, and was a true original." Toni Morrison "Marks the beginning of a new era." James Baldwin "The first book I ever read as a teenager." Rihanna "A phenomenal woman!" Beyoncé.