The solely reply I’ve given these days to the query “What book should I read next?” is Matriarch. I don’t bear in mind the final time I beneficial a guide this a lot. I’ve prompt it to individuals who normally keep away from biographies, promising this one feels completely different. I’ve pushed it to audiobook lovers, figuring out Tina Knowles’s narration—uncooked when she speaks about her mom’s demise, hilarious when she remembers her days as “Bad Ass Tenie B”—provides a complete new layer.
Wherever you might be in life as a girl, Knowles has a narrative that steadies, encourages, or just makes you’re feeling seen. Her reflections on motherhood, ambition, heartbreak, and reinvention land with honesty and intention. What makes this guide unforgettable is how she turns her private historical past into one thing common—knowledge and tales normally meant for her household, however resonant for anybody nonetheless discovering their manner.
Matriarch didn’t simply transfer me; it grounded me. And that’s why it’s the most effective guide I’ve learn all 12 months. —Paris Wilson, commerce author