Aunt Gerald takes in anyone who asks, but the conditions are harsh. For her young niece Goldie Taylor, abandoned by her mother and coping with trauma of her own, life in Geralds East St. Louis comes with nothing but a threadbare blanket on the living room floor.

But amid the pain and anguish, Goldie discovers a secret. She can find kinship among writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. She can find hope in a nurturing teacher who helps her find her voice. And books, she realizes, can save her life.

Goldie Taylor’s debut memoir shines a light on the strictures of race, class and gender in a postJim Crow America while offering a nuanced, empathetic portrait of a family in a pitched battle for its very soul.

Profoundly moving, exquisitely rendered and ultimately uplifting,The Love You Saveis a story about hidden strength, perseverance against unimaginable odds, the beauty and pain of girlhood, and the power of the written word.