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Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo

A Novel

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Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo

By: Ntozake Shange
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
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Ntozake Shange’s most beloved novel, Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, is the story of three “colored girls,” three sisters and their mama from Charleston, South Carolina. Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother, gone north to college and living with other artists in Los Angeles, trying to weave a life out of her work, her man, her memories, and her dreams. Cypress, the dancer, leaves home to find new ways of moving and easing the contractions of her soul. Indigo, the youngest, is still a child of Charleston - with “too much of the South in her” - who lives in poetry, can talk to her dolls, and has a great gift of seeing the obvious magic of the world.

©1982 Ntozake Shange (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Buck 50 Productions, LLC African American African American Literature Fiction
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Critic reviews

“Miss Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anybody can relate to her message.” ( New York Times)
“A marvel…Languages—colloquial, established, lyric—play together like the most lush chamber music, the coolest jazz, the brassiest marches, the hippest jug band…[It] leaves us filled with joy and yearning for more.” ( Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Possessed of poetry, motion, and light…Shange’s tale is poignant, surprising, and deep as she looks at the different worlds of women and their special places therein.” ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
A great period piece full of optimism. a really good listen , well read, and enjoyed the music too.

a great listen

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Why isn't this novel well known? It's better than so many bestsellers I've listened to.

It is short but the writing is so delicious it doesn't need to be longer to explore the lives of three young black women and their mother during the civil rights movement era.

The characters are confident, outspoken, strong and unafraid to speak and explore their femininity and magic as black artistic women during a turbulent time. It focuses more on the internal world of these women, not the civil rights era itself. It feels like the they have no limits in a time of repression.

They speak about menstruation, the female body -everything without shame and without guilt, with freedom and art. something that we still struggle with today.

The narrator is amazing. she does honour to the writing and art.

I loved this hidden gem. I wished it was longer so I could listen to more beautiful imagery. I want to hear more by this author.

Hidden Gem, should be a well known treasure.

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Sassafras, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange feels less like a traditional novel and more like stepping into a living tapestry of Black womanhood, creativity, pain, magic, and love. Following the three sisters, Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo, the book moves through their lives in such a fluid, almost musical way that I often felt like I was drifting through memory, poetry, and folklore all at once.

Each sister carries such a distinct emotional energy. Sassafras aches with longing and artistic hunger, Cypress feels restless and searching, while Indigo brings this beautiful sense of innocence, spirituality, and quiet wisdom. Together, they create a portrait of sisterhood that feels messy, tender, and deeply alive. Even when the characters frustrate you, you understand them emotionally.

What struck me most is how the book made me feel connected to something older and deeper. Food, music, craft, nature, ancestry, love, and pain all weave together so naturally that the story feels rooted rather than simply told. Shange writes with such lyricism that some passages feel like they should be spoken aloud beside candlelight and music.

Reading it left me emotional, reflective, and strangely comforted. It’s not always an easy book to follow structurally, but emotionally it knows exactly what it’s doing. Beautiful, soulful, and rich with feeling, it lingers like a song you can still hear long after it ends.

Like Reading a Song, a Spell, and a Love Letter All at Once

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The reader had a velvet tone and brought alive these women's talents and histories.

Loved the story.

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I loved every word of this book. It’s just amazing. Indigo sees the world with innocent eyes and she makes everything magical. Sassafrass fights an abusive boyfriend and breaks free — with a little push. And Cypress is a free-spirited dancer who loves love.

Amazing narrator.

Three sisters, their mom, their lives

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