Ninth Ward

Ninth Ward is a novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes, published in 2010. It is set in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and follows Lanesha, who was taken in at birth by Mama Ya-Ya, the midwife who raised her.

In Louisiana, everyone believes in spirits, and Lanesha can see them: Mama Ya-Ya explains to her that she has the gift of second sight, the same one the older woman has. The gift is also how the household knows what is coming, because Mama Ya-Ya understands that a hurricane is on its way well before the radio and the television begin to warn about it.

The warnings, when they come, tell the whole city to leave, and the damage the announcers describe is described as immeasurable. Mama Ya-Ya is very old and has no car, so she cannot go anywhere, and Lanesha's response is practical: she lays in stores of water and food, nails boards over the windows, and then waits for the storm with the grandmother who cannot leave. The preparations are made in the days when the household can still act on what it knows.