The Love You Save: A Memoir Spiral-Bound | January 31, 2023
Goldie Taylor
★★★★☆+ from 501 to 1,000 ratings
The Love You Save: A Memoir
Acclaimed journalist and human rights activist Goldie Taylor shares the harrowing yet deeply hopeful story of her troubled childhood in East St. Louis—a memoir of family, faith and the power of books
*A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of 2023*
*One of The Root's Most Anticipated Books of January*
*A Good Morning America Best Book of January*
*An Essence Must Read Book of the Year*
*A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Bestseller*?
“The Love You Save will console and inspire countless people."—J.R. Moehringer, New York Times bestselling author of The Tender Bar
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings meets Educated in this harrowing, deeply hopeful memoir of family, faith and the power of books—from acclaimed journalist and human rights activist Goldie Taylor
Aunt Gerald takes in anyone who asks, but the conditions are harsh. For her young niece Goldie Taylor, abandoned by her mother and coping with trauma of her own, life in Gerald’s East St. Louis comes with nothing but a threadbare blanket on the living room floor.
But amid the pain and anguish, Goldie discovers a secret. She can find kinship among writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. She can find hope in a nurturing teacher who helps her find her voice. And books, she realizes, can save her life.
Goldie Taylor's debut memoir shines a light on the strictures of race, class and gender in a post–Jim Crow America while offering a nuanced, empathetic portrait of a family in a pitched battle for its very soul.
Profoundly moving, exquisitely rendered and ultimately uplifting, The Love You Save is a story about hidden strength, perseverance against unimaginable odds, the beauty and pain of girlhood, and the power of the written word.
"Bursting with hope, wonder and wisdom, The Love You Save is a deeply inspiring, must-read memoir about the transformative power of books to heal and unite us."—Gabrielle Union, New York Times bestselling author of You Got Anything Stronger?
"Goldie Taylor's The Love You Save is at once candid and devastating. Writing with clarity and elegance, Taylor has crafted a memoir about finding peace, hope, and love after surviving unspeakable violence. This book will stay with me a long long time."—Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
"In The Love You Save Goldie Taylor weaves a vibrant retelling of her youth and by proxy a side of America that is rarely seen on the page. Instead of pathologizing hardship, Taylor celebrates survival and gives the readers a front row seat to a fascinating and poignant life. Deeply honest, it is an important cultural document wrapped in a memoir. Words are powerful, the pen can be our best weapon and here Taylor shows us that she survived and thrived because of them."—Mikki Kendall, New York Times bestselling author of Hood Feminism
"Goldie Taylor writes of her childhood in East St. Louis—often cruel, often dire, punctuated by intense and complex familial love—with a clear-eyed lack of sentimentality, much less self-pity, and, somehow, unwavering compassion that put me in mind of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, especially as young Goldie finds strength and salvation in the transporting, redemptive power of books and the support of perceptive teachers. The writing in The Love You Save is always as beautiful as its story so often is not, and I read it through with a kind of fearful hopefulness."—Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English
"The Love You Save is a powerful coming-of-age story about a little Black girl's determination to love and survive. It made me smile and grimace with deep recognition. This is a memoir about the pain and joy of being 'the first,' with all of the sacrifices that come with opportunity. Taylor renders a lovely memoir about a slice of Black life with compassion and truth-telling."—Tressie McMillan Cottom, National Book Award-nominated author of Thick: And Other Essays
"Indelible... This powerful examination of survival and self-forgiveness is an emotional reckoning."—Publishers Weekly
“An affecting memoir of overcoming adversity when every deck is stacked against you.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Taylor's narrative flows beautifully (even the parts that are hard to read) and integrates seamlessly with her reflections on love, care, and forgiveness. A beyond-compelling testimonial.”—Booklist STARRED review
"Goldie Taylor's story will console and inspire countless people in crisis struggling with their own traumas. But it should also give hope, comfort and confirmation to everyone who believes in the singular power of books."—J.R. Moehringer, New York Times bestselling author of The Tender Bar
"This moving memoir is a deeply personal story of trauma and perseverance against all odds."—The Root
"Painful and inspiring, Goldie's memoir is important and unique."—Good Morning America
"A heart wrenching story of endurance under the most unimaginable of circumstances."—Motherly
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings meets Educated."—Katie Couric Media
“Goldie Taylor’s absolutely stunning memoir depicts Black life in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1970s and ’80s with cinematic detail and novelistic prose.”—BookPage