Title: Sarah's Psalm
First published: 1996
Description: In this searing first novel, author Florence Ladd tells the story of Sarah Stewart, a young black Harvard graduate whose growing interest in Africa and declining interest in her failing marriage lead her down a path of self-discovery, love, and the choice between loyalty and truth.

It is the 1960s, and America is in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, to which Sarah's husband, Lincoln, is dedicated. Sarah decides to travel to Senegal to study and work with Ibrahim Mangane, a Senegalese writer and filmmaker whose passion for his work and his country intrigue her. This is a lifelong dream come true for Sarah, but not without a price. While Lincoln remains passionate about the movement at home, she longs for the beauty and mystery of Africa.

This is at once the story of the emerging American Civil Rights Movement and the beginning of Afrocentrism. It is also a story of love and a woman's coming of age. Lyrical in style, Sarah's Psalm tells of one young black woman's captivation with Africa and all things African, her husband's concurrent obsession with the American Civil Rights Movement, and the rift this creates between them.
Subjects: Fiction, Race relations, African American women, Americans, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, coming of age, Fiction, romance, historical, African americans, fiction, United states, fiction
Places: Senegal, Africa