No Ashes in the Fire ★★★★☆

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★☆

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell Moore is a memoir about a Black gay man growing up in Camden.

I read this as an audiobook read by the author and checked out from the library. I read this book while I was on a trip to Philadelphia and New Jersey. I would listen to Moore while I was running the streets of NJ in the mornings and it was a lovely way to consume the material.

Moore takes us through his childhood memories - the good and the bad - from early tender memories with his father to intense bullying where he was almost lit on fire. Moore shares with us his experiences and development as a gay man and the boys/men who showed and shared the way. Moore recounts his mentors and leads us on the journey of his educational and career development. Finally, in the epilogue, Moore tells us about his personal experience with the Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride to Ferguson, MO.

Moore is a poet in the way he shares his life with us. At the end, he refers to the book as an "emotional genealogy" and I can't think of a better way to describe it.

If you liked No Ashes in the Fire, I also recommend The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Cullors, and Tomorrow will be Different by Sarah McBride.

Happy Reading :)

Ms.Bjork