Maya Angelou's five volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration.

In the fifth volume, Maya Angelou emigrates to Ghana only to discover that 'you can't go home again' but she comes to a new awareness of love and friendship, civil rights and slavery - and the myth of mother Africa.

"A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman." Barack Obama

"Thoroughly enjoyable... an important document drawing more much-needed attention to the hidden history of a people both African and American." Los Angeles Times Book Review