Bailey’s Place is a beautiful novel that read more like a collection of interconnected stories. As many have said, there is so much to enjoy in Gloria Naylor’s amazing lyricism and odd menagerie of characters.

Personally, I most enjoyed her knack for showing the progression of these characters’ lives through peephole glimpses into their worlds. Naylor knows how to zoom in on the precise moments where children lose their innocence, and then flashes through all the right scenes of their adulthood. Despite how obsessed I became with these mysterious characters (and would’ve read entire novels about Miss Maple and Jesse Bell), I always left satisfied that each character had finally shared what they needed to about who they truly were.

I’m definitely putting more of Naylor’s work on my Want to Read list!