This Thread of Gold

LoveReading Says

With delicate precision, and a gleaming voice, Catherine Joy White’s This Thread of Gold interweaves the incredible, inspirational stories of exceptional Black female disrupters with her own story of self-discovery. Traversing continents across time to the present-day, it simmers with resilience, recreation and reclamation, three pillars which inform the structure of the book.

Part One present portraits of Reclamation to “explore how Black women accept what they cannot change and reclaim it”. In the first chapter, the author shares the power of her own female lineage: “Women as fierce and mighty as they are brave, as vulnerable and sensitive as they are proud and as beautiful as they are strong”. Women who link her to “a tapestry, rich in its colours and delicate, complex detail”.

Throughout, the writing has such visual, poetic potency, whether the author is sharing her own experiences, or presenting the lives of notable Black female resistors, among them Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and Diane Abbott; Aretha Franklin, Doreen Lawrence and Beyoncé.

With the dexterity of a master weaver, White draws the book’s components together with positive, wise beauty, as exemplified by this excerpt: “We know that if we just keep spinning, just keep weaving then the salt in our hands will eventually, overwhelmingly, irrevocably, transform into finest shimmering gold”.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About This Thread of Gold

**Winner of the 2025 HURSTON/WRIGHT NON-FICTION LEGACY AWARD**Weaving together narratives that celebrate the triumph of Black female resistance, Catherine Joy White takes us on a unique journey through the eyes of positive and inspiring disruptors.Throughout history, acts of defiance have taken place in secret, in kitchens, churches, through trusted networks. Others were projected onto a global stage through art, politics and activism.From Alice Walker to Beyoncé, from Audre Lorde to Doreen Lawrence, from Aretha Franklin to Zendaya: Catherine Joy White charts her own journey to self-discovery through the prism of extraordinary women to create a beautiful tapestry of Black joy.Taking on the legacy of Angela Davis's Women, Race and Class, Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider and Saidiya Hartman's Wayward Lives, This Thread of Gold brings new life to the history of Black women's resistance.

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