Maya Angelou's seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration.

In this third marvellous volume, music and her son are the focus of Maya Angelou's life. She is on the edge of a new world: marriage, show business and a triumphant tour of Porgy and Bess.

'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMA

'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault . . . There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISON

'Once again the reader must marvel at this gifted woman's spirit and resistance and applaud the gusto with which she recaptures a past that has been plagued by indignities as often as it has been blessed by love' OBSERVER

'Maya Angelou is an inspiration' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY