In Morgan Jerkins' new novel Caul Baby, a family of Black women has a gift; they're born with a caul, a layer over their skin that protects them from harm. They can share the caul with others — and ...

When I read a book, I always find myself wondering what books the author read while they were writing it. I’ve long imagined, for instance, that Alice Walker thought fondly of Zora Neale Hurston while ...

Morgan Jerkins delights in finding the fantastical within the familiar. In her new novel, Caul Baby, everyday life takes on a surreal glow: a bodega covertly peddles mystical talismans; a brownstone ...

In fewer than 1 in 80,000 births, a baby is born still fully enclosed within the unruptured amniotic sac, or caul. Babies born en caul emerge in the very same gelatinous sac that protected and ...

Morgan Jerkins’ first love has always been fiction. As a teenager, the New Jersey native was creating characters and writing stories through which she could seek refuge. Her passion for storytelling ...

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. By Jamie Figueroa CAUL BABY By Morgan Jerkins In 1998, the Melancon family of women resides on West ...

Jerkins (Wandering in Strange Lands) makes her fiction debut with the rich if didactic story of the Melancon family and the shadow they cast over present-day Harlem. Dominated by hard-hearted ...

Before my mother died at 87 from ovarian cancer in 1997, she informed me I was a “caulbearer.” I had been born with a caul on my head. She said the filmy remnant of the amniotic sac enveloped my head ...

In Morgan Jerkins' new novel Caul Baby, a family of Black women has a gift; they're born with a caul, a layer over their skin that protects them from harm. They can share the caul with others — and ...

What is the story behind the title? A caul is when a child is born in the amniotic sac. In African American folklore, a person who was born with a caul, with the veil, is said to have healing and ...