By Robin D. Stone
Essence
10/03
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In her memoir, The Prisoner's Wife, asha bandele (Essence features editor) explored the heartbreaking realities of loving an incarcerated man. It's no surprise that with her third book, Daughter (Scribner, $23), this lyrical writer gives us another penetrating look at the endurance of love under harsh circumstances.

In Daughter, bandele's first novel, Aya Rivers, a lively yet haunted 19-year-old sister, is shot by a White cop in a case of mistaken identity. For Aya's mother, the guarded and rigid Miriam, the shooting unearths long-buried memories of her own troubled youth and her complicated relationship with Bird, Aya's father. As Miriam finally confronts her troubled past, she discovers new possibilities for living.

bandele, who describes herself as "thirtysomething," is also a poet (Absence in the Palm of My Hands) and has a 3-year-old daughter. She is working on her second novel. Author Robin D. Stone asked her about the motivation for Daughter:

"I was inspired to write this novel by the murder of Amadou Diallo, who was shot to death by police in The Bronx in 1999. His mother, Kadiatou, moved me. Through it all she was dignified and graceful. But she was also a mother who had to go home each night knowing she'd never see her son again. We seldom see the impact of police brutality on families.

"In my work I want to tell the truth as I see and know it. A lot of my writing deals with heavy subjects. I thought of writing something like Sex and the City. I thought it would be hilarious. But it's just not me."