A coming-of-age novel following Abeba, a gifted young Black girl growing up in America.

Southerland's debut novel explores the complexities of Black girlhood, the inheritance of cultural identity and the struggle to establish a life on one's own terms. Moving between intimate family relationships and the wider social realities of twentieth-century America, it shows how children begin to understand race, class and belonging, and how early experiences of exclusion can shape an emerging sense of self. A lesser-known work of African American fiction concerned with the difficult, often contradictory process of becoming oneself.

J. M. Dent & Sons, Everyman Fiction paperback edition, 1980s. Good vintage condition, with visible cover creasing, edge wear and some age-related discolouration.