About: Corregidora (novel)

Corregidora (1975) is a fiction novel written by Gayl Jones set in Kentucky in the late 1940s. The novel centers around Ursa Corregidora, who was recently hospitalized after an accident involving a flight of stairs. The first three sections of the novel follow Ursa through her recovery, her changing relationships, and her profession as a blues singer. The final two sections of Corregidora flash forward to 1969 when Mutt returns. Jones uses a fragmented style of writing to incorporate the Corregidora family history of trauma into Ursa's present narrative. Overall, Corregidora considers difficult themes of generational trauma, preservation of memory, domestic and sexual violence, and womanhood and motherhood. Literary critics have highly regarded Jones' writing in this novel.