Can You See the Wind? [Paperback]

A story of family--whether the one you inherit or the one you create--bound together and torn apart in the struggle for a better world.

Change rarely comes easily or without a fight. In her much-anticipated fourth novel Beverly Gologorsky takes a close, loving look at the members of a working-class family in the Bronx, each in their own way struggling for a better world. At the heart of the story is Josie, a young woman whose fraught relationship with her family is further stretched by her commitment to anti-Vietnam War activities and her deepening relationship with a rising star in the Black Panther Party. Her brother Johnny is a police officer, rough and judgmental. Closest in age to Josie is sweet Richie, who, inexplicably to her, has just become an enlisted soldier. Her sister Celia is pulled toward activism in the women's fight for equality, but paralyzed by fear for her eldest son who may or may not have blown up an enlistment center. Their lives intertwine through acts of violence, loyalty, and, above all, the bonds of family love and loss. One thing is certain--that in the long run of life, change is inevitable. Beverly Gologorsky brings a clarity of vision and purpose to this extraordinary novel—a story about the complexities and love that both bring families, lovers and comrades together and tears them apart. Can You See the Wind? renders the urgency of political movements as well as moments of individual contemplation. That she does so in breathtaking prose is a testament to her brilliance and artistry.
—Farah Jasmine Griffin, Professor, African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, Columbia University

With her usual honest, frank and perceptive style, Beverly Gologorsky has written a penetrating novel about the era of the Vietnam War and Black Panthers that explores the moral complexities of political activism