ABSTRACT
Music figures significantly but differently in each of the three sisters’ stories. Indigo is a powerful spiritual figure, a visionary with supernatural
connections for whom music is a vehicle for self-expression and spiritual liberation, and a tool she utilizes in healing and childbirth. Sassafrass is a weaver, a cook, and an aspiring but blocked writer who is inspirited by visits from famous musicians of the past (Mamie Smith, Billie Holiday) and seduced and silenced by the music of her lover, Mitch. Cypress is a dancer whose movement is inspired by music and whose creative energy is rekindled by the music of a second musician, Leroy.
