Meridian Hill, daughter of a working-class black family in the American south, comes of age against the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s civil rights movement. Life starts out hard - at seventeen, she finds herself married with a child and denied an education because of it. Amid the chaos of social upheaval, Meridian discovers who she is - a woman capable of great courage, resilience and hope. Charting the story of the civil rights movement through one woman's struggle, the novel is a powerful meditation on community, womanhood and self-discovery.