Six Women in a Cell

A Story of Sisterhood and Survival After Police Assault

By: Diana Tokaji

Narrated by: Laura Rose Civilikas

1 Night. 6 Women. 1 Jail cell. In this lyrical masterpiece by 2020 Sonia Sanchez-Langston Hughes award- winner Diana Tokaji, we hear the intimate stories of strangers, locked together for one long night. Meet: Baby, Alexa, Richmond, The Social Worker, Mudd - a teen, a divorcee, a sex worker, a social worker, a pregnant mom - and our grey-haired narrator who was just assaulted by the police.

This book is about a harsh reality Americans should know: "Up the hall wall for pat down, handcuffed through the succession of locking doors, and now this: I am told to sit... my left handcuff is clicked with the spin of a key into a tight iron ring on the metal desk. I'm not going anywhere unless I haul the table too."

This book is about love: "The eyes of each woman remain in my mind like the nurse whose eyes I bored through to stay sane in my last child-birthing, whose name I never learned, whose actual face I never took in, only the eyes, not even their color, just the saving connection of them."

©2020 Diana Tokaji (P)2024 Laura Rose Civilikas

Critic reviews

"Breathtaking. Raw, Brilliant. And beautifully crafted." - Deborah King, creator of regrowing our wings: Yoga for healing trauma

"Not just words on pages - this is a taste of what life is for many." - Debra Bennett, Executive Director, Change comes now

"I couldn't put it down." - Maria Washington, founder, mothers for justice united