Ayana Mathis is a distinctive and acclaimed new voice in fiction. Her new novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, is the latest Oprah Book Club 2.0 selection. Beginning in the 1920s in Georgia, it tells the story of the Great Migration of African Americans through the trials and triumphs of one very remarkable, unforgettable family. Hattie Shepherd is 15 when she flees Georgia for a new life in Philadelphia. What she finds is a disappointing marriage and children she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. Captured in twelve luminous threads, their onrushing lives tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation. It is a powerful, beautiful story you will treasure, and we were pleased to be able to host this young author at the First Baptist Church Decatur on March 21st, 2013.