Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst PDF Download

Homebodies is a novel by Tembe Denton-Hurst that explores the challenges and joys of being a young Black woman in the digital age. The protagonist, Mickey Hayward, is a writer at a New York magazine who loses her job and her sense of identity after exposing the racism and sexism she faced in the media industry. She returns to her hometown in Maryland, where she reconnects with her family, her ex-girlfriend, and herself. Along the way, she learns to embrace her vulnerability, her creativity, and her voice. The novel is divided into two parts: New York and Maryland. In the first part, we see Mickey’s life in New York, where she works at Wave, a magazine for young women that was recently acquired by a media conglomerate. Mickey is ambitious and talented, but she feels frustrated and invisible at work, where she has to deal with microaggressions, tokenism, and lack of support from her white boss, Nina. She also struggles to balance her career with her relationship with Lex, a kind and caring woman who works as a nurse and loves Mickey unconditionally.

Mickey’s world collapses when she finds out that Nina is planning to replace her with another Black writer, Chelsea’s friend. She decides to write a letter exposing the racism and sexism she experienced at Wave and posts it on Twitter, hoping to spark a conversation and a change. However, her letter is met with indifference and silence from her colleagues and the public. Feeling betrayed and hopeless, Mickey breaks up with Lex and moves out of their apartment. In the second part, we follow Mickey’s journey in Maryland, where she stays with her grandparents while trying to figure out what to do next. She reconnects with her childhood friend and ex-girlfriend, Tee, who is now a successful tattoo artist and a single mother.