The Good Negress

Name: The Good Negress
Author: A. J. Verdelle
ISBN: 9781565128675

A. J. Verdelle

awards won

score

The Good Negress

A. J. Verdelle

awards won

score

See the full ranking

The Good Negress won the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Set in 1960s Detroit, the novel centers around Denise Palms, who leaves her grandmother's home in rural Virginia to reunite with her mother, stepfather, and older brothers. As a black teenage girl, Denise is given scarce opportunity beyond cooking, cleaning, and raising her mother's baby. But an idealistic, demanding teacher opens Denise's eyes to a future she has never considered, and soon she begins to question the limits of the life prescribed to her. With lyrical, evocative prose, A. J. Verdelle captures Denise's journey from adolescence to womanhood as she navigates the tension between loyalty and independence, and between circumstance and desire. The Good Negress is an unforgettable debut—simultaneously the portrait of a family and a glimpse into an era of twentieth-century America.

Buy this book at Amazon