Girls Who Burn First (Paperback)

Marie L. Decius

ISBN 13: 9798283075839

Published by Independently Published, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. Some names remained unwritten. So they stitched them into cloth and let the fire carry them forward.Spanning from revolutionary-era Haiti to present-day Atlanta, Girls Who Burn First weaves together the stories of five women bound by a single object: a carved wooden comb passed quietly across generations.Zenaide, who is fifteen years old, is fleeing from a fire in Saint-Domingue in 1803 while carrying names that the archives refuse to remember. Amara is a West Point cadet in 2005, hiding resistance in regulation seams. In 2023, Lyah discovers a cloth that hums when she holds it-and starts to remember events yet to come. Other girls follow suit, stitching, humming, burning, and refusing to erase themselves.Told in fragments, dreams, and spirals, this novel blends historical fiction, magical realism, and oral history to explore how Black women have survived by remembering each other in silence, in cloth, and in flame.For readers of Jesmyn Ward, Toni Morrison, and Rivers Solomon, this is a story about legacy, rage, love, and the kind of fire that does not consume-but passes forward.If you've ever felt like your body remembers more than your mouth can say. You are already part of the thread. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9798283075839

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Girls Who Burn First (Paperback)
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798283075839
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Some names remained unwritten. So they stitched them into cloth and let the fire carry them forward.

Spanning from revolutionary-era Haiti to present-day Atlanta, Girls Who Burn First weaves together the stories of five women bound by a single object: a carved wooden comb passed quietly across generations.

Zénaïde, who is fifteen years old, is fleeing from a fire in Saint-Domingue in 1803 while carrying names that the archives refuse to remember. Amara is a West Point cadet in 2005, hiding resistance in regulation seams. In 2023, Lyah discovers a cloth that hums when she holds it—and starts to remember events yet to come. Other girls follow suit, stitching, humming, burning, and refusing to erase themselves.

Told in fragments, dreams, and spirals, this novel blends historical fiction, magical realism, and oral history to explore how Black women have survived by remembering each other in silence, in cloth, and in flame.

For readers of Jesmyn Ward, Toni Morrison, and Rivers Solomon, this is a story about legacy, rage, love, and the kind of fire that does not consume—but passes forward.

If you’ve ever felt like your body remembers more than your mouth can say… You are already part of the thread.