Nellie, a tea to protect Lena from being plagued
by her gift. However, dismissing the belief as mere
superstition, Nellie discards the tea and caul. As a
result, Lena is troubled by ghostly visits through
which, in the end, she learns about African-Amer-
ican traditions and folk medicine. The New York
Times named Baby of the Family a “Notable Book
of the Year” in 1989, and the Ansas are converting
this novel into a film.
Ansa’s second novel, Ug l y Way s (1993), is told
largely through flashbacks. After the death of Es-
ther “Mudear” Lovejoy, her husband and their
three daughters attempt to recall memories of her.
During the early years of Mudear’s marriage, her
husband physically and emotionally abused her.
Eventually, to retaliate, Mudear refuses to work,
forcing her daughters fundamentally to raise them-
selves, thereby becoming independent. Although
she is already dead at the beginning of the novel,
Mudear’s spirit eavesdrops on her daughters’ con-
versations about her. Mudear’s ghostly presence
accentuates her influence and emotional hold over
her daughters. Ansa confirms that her intention
was to make Mudear a character who subverts pre-
vailing stereotypes about African-American moth-
ers. She states, “I wanted to see more complexity.
What happens if you don’t have this strong kind of
mother?” (Peterson 54). Ansa was nominated for
a NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF COLORED PEOPLE Image Award and the African
American Blackboard List named the novel Best
Fiction in 1994.
In Ansa’s third novel, The Hand I Fan With
(1996), readers are reunited with Lena McPherson,
now a single, 45-year-old wealthy businesswoman.
When Lena and Sister, her best friend from New
Orleans, conjure a man, Herman, a ghost who has
protected Lena from bad ghosts all her life, answers
the call. Through her relationship with Herman,
Lena is able to have an erotic spiritual experience
and to conquer the powers of the veil, which had
made it impossible for her to be intimate with men.
Lena adored and admired her mother, but like the
other Lovejoy women, she too must overcome the
error of her mother’s judgment.
Like Baby of the Family and Ugly Ways, which
deals with family conflicts, Ansa’s novel You Know
Better (2002) is the story of three generations of
women, the Pines. LaShawndra is a sexually pro-
miscuous 18-year-old who runs away from home.
Sandra, her mother, is more concerned with her
looks, her romantic relationship, and her career
than she is about her daughter. Sandra does not
search for her daughter, but Lily, LaShawndra’s
grandmother, does. As in the other novels, ghosts’
visits play a significant role in guiding the living in
You Know Better. Also, Ansa continues to empower
her female characters by giving each one, through
the narrative technique, a distinct voice.
Although not purely autobiographical, Ansa
admits that her work “is informed by where I
come from and who I am” (Montgomery). She
admits further that her mother, Nellie—who has
the same name as Lena McPherson’s mother—has
influenced her art. Of her narrative technique,
Ansa says, “my literary voice [is] my ‘mother lan-
guage.’.... [It] was through my mother’s voice that
I learned language could be funny, that it could
be painful, that it could be sympathetic, biting,
stinging, that it could be wise” (Ansa, 194). This
“mother language” is reflected in her four novels.
Ansa’s talent is her ability to present strikingly re-
alistic portraits of supernatural entities and events,
to construct picturesque settings, and to reveal the
emotional complexities of middle- to upper-class
African-American women.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ansa, Tina McElroy. “Finding Our Voice.” Essence,
May 1995, pp. 194–195.
Montgomery, Georgene Bess. “Author Interview.”
bookreporter.com. Available online. URL: http://
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/you_
know_better2.asp#interview. Accessed September
28, 2006.
Peterson, V. R. “Tina McElroy Ansa a Real Mother’s
Tale.” Essence, December 1993, p. 54.
Tara GreenAttaway, William (1911–1986)
Novelist and scriptwriter William Attaway was
born in Greenville, Mississippi, on November 19,18 Attaway, William