Broken Roots: Navigating Life without Mama

Broken Roots: Navigating Life Without Mama

By Phillip A.D. Lyles

When the matriarch of a tightly woven Black family takes her final breath, her absence doesn't just leave an empty seat at the table—it uproots the foundation of an entire legacy.

Set against the backdrop of Chicago's South Side, Broken Roots: Navigating Life Without Mama follows Chloe, a young woman standing at the crossroads of memory and survival. As she navigates the heartache of losing her mother, Chloe confronts the pressure to hold her family together, the unspoken weight of generational trauma, and the haunting silence that grief leaves behind. With Mama gone, who will carry the stories? Who will protect the roots?

Told in raw, poetic prose with the rhythm of lived experience, this novel captures the emotional complexity of Black family dynamics, illuminating the invisible labor of Black women, the resilience born from systemic adversity, and the sacred spaces we carve from sorrow. The story is layered with African American Vernacular English (AAVE), cultural references, and familial rituals that ring true for readers who know what it means to be both broken and unbreakable.

More than a novel of loss, Broken Roots is a love letter to Black motherhood, a meditation on legacy, and a testimony to the power of memory. Chloe's journey will resonate with readers who have lost someone dear, who are learning to parent without having been parented, and who understand that healing is not linear—but necessary.

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With deeply human characters and emotionally charged moments, Phillip A.D. Lyles delivers a debut that is as timely as it is timeless—a must-read for fans of literary fiction rooted in culture, memory, and the truth of lived experience.

Broken Roots: Navigating Life Without Mama reminds us that even when we lose our guiding light, we carry the fire within us.