The Temple of My Familiar

The Temple of My Familiar is a 1989 novel by Alice Walker. It is an ambitious, multi-narrative work built from interleaved stories. Arveyda is a musician searching for his past; Carlotta, his Latin American wife, lives in exile from her homeland; Suwelo, a Black professor of American history, comes to realize that his generation of men has failed women; Fanny, his ex-wife, is about to meet her father for the first time; and Lissie is a vibrant figure with a thousand pasts. Celie and Shug, the lead characters of Walker's earlier The Color Purple, appear as minor supporting characters.

The novel thus gathers many voices and periods, exploring memory, family inheritance, and the relations between men and women.