Toyi Elizabeth

The award-winning author of Par for the Curse brings readers an impassioned story of grace with resilience often deeply hidden in the human spirit. Toyi Elizabeth is an inspiring tale that leaves readers to consider the strength, power, and love buried inside of them.



Toyi Elizabeth was born during a frightening electrical storm in Appalachia, the kind that makes people go to church the following Sunday. Exhausted from the ever present storms in her life, Toyi Elizabeth makes a valiant attempt at suicide that was thwarted by a determined doctor with heterochromia and a nurse from the Black church. Upon waking, she is burdened by the story to be told. A life-long victim who now sees herself as a survivor, Toyi Elizabeth offers a memoir of heartbreaking historicity, healing wisdom, and delightful wit.