It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories - Hardcover

by Lisa-Jo Baker (Author)

An honest and lyrical coming-of-age memoir of growing up in South Africa at the height of apartheid, and an invitation to recognize and refuse to repeat the sins of our fathers--from the bestselling author of Never Unfriended

"Heartfelt, emotionally charged reflections . . . [a] bracing memoir."--Kirkus Review

"Important. Riveting. Unforgettable . . . a profoundly captivating story that can profoundly change your own story."--Ann Voskamp, New York Times bestselling author of WayMaker

Born White in the heart of Zululand during the racial apartheid, Lisa-Jo Baker longed to write a new future for her children--a longing that set her on a journey to understand where she fit into a story of violence and faith, history and race. Before marriage and motherhood, she came to the United States to study to become a human rights advocate. When she naïvely walked right into America's own turbulent racial landscape, Baker experienced the kind of painful awakening that is both individual and universal, personal and social. Yet years would go by before she traced this American trauma back to her own South African past.

Baker was a teenager when her mother died of cancer, leaving her with her father. Though they shared a language of faith and justice, she often feared him, unaware that his fierce temper had deep roots in a family's and a nation's pain. Decades later, old wounds reopened when she found herself spiraling into a terrifying version of her father, screaming herself hoarse at her son. Only then did Baker realize that to go forward--to refuse to repeat the sins of our fathers--we must first go back.

With a story that stretches from South Africa's outback to Washington, D.C., It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping is a courageous look at inherited hurts and prejudices, and a hope-filled example for all who feel lost in life or worried that they're too off course to make the necessary corrections. Baker's story shows that it's never too late to be free.

Author Biography

Lisa-Jo Baker is the bestselling author of Never Unfriended, Surprised by Motherhood, and The Middle Matters. With a BA in English/prelaw from Gordon College and a JD from the University of Notre Dame Law School, Baker has lived and worked on three continents in the human rights field. Her writings have resonated with thousands and have been featured on HuffPost, BibleGateway, Fox News, Today online, Christianity Today, and more. A sought-after national speaker, she is the cohost of the Out of the Ordinary podcast. Originally from South Africa, Baker now lives with her family just outside Washington, D.C.