Getting our breath back

the long version

"Violent, Lilly, and Rose know how it feels to be black women trying to find their place in a changing white world. Violet, the eldest, grows up believing in the myth of the Southern belle - only to discover that good manners and genteel charm aren't going to bring her acceptance from a closed-minded society...or a philandering husband. Lilly is an ex-Black Panther and writer caught up in the stormy aftermath of the sixties; she shuts out this new world of confusion and pain with the heroin that can never give her peace...or salvation. Rose is the youngest, a sculptor who has shaped herself in the image of an independent black woman grounded in the political movements of her time. But she carries a secret heartache that will resonate in the life of her daughter, Imani, who grows up searching for the daddy she longs to know."--BOOK JACKET.