Danzy Senna is the author of five previous books, including the bestselling Caucasia and, most recently, New People. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she teaches writing at the University of Southern California.
"Lucid and magnificent."—James McBride, author of The Color of
Water
"The visual conundrums woven through Danzy Senna's remarkable first
novel [will] cling to your memory. There's Birdie, who takes after
her mother's white, New England side of the family—light skin,
straight hair. There's her big sister, Cole, who takes after her
father, a radical black intellectual. It's the early seventies, and
black-power politics divide their parents, who divide the sisters;
Cole disappears with their father, and Birdie goes underground with
their mother...Senna tells this coming-of-age tale with impressive
beauty and power."—Newsweek
"[An] absorbing debut novel...Senna superbly illustrates the
emotional toll that politics and race take on one especially gutsy
young girl's development as she makes her way through the parallel
limbos between black and white and between girl and young
woman...Senna gives new meaning to the twin universal desires for a
lost childhood and a new adult self by recounting Birdie's struggle
to become someone when she can look and act like anyone."—The New
York Times Book Review
"Extraordinary...A cross between Mona Simpson's Anywhere But Here
and James McBride's The Color of Water, this story of a young
girl's struggle—to find her family, her roots, her
identity—transcends race even while examining it. A compelling look
at being black and being white, Caucasia deserves to be read all
over."—Glamour
"Brilliant...a finely nuanced story that explores the matter of
race through the eyes and heart of another white black
girl."—Ms.
"Senna brings an accomplished voice to this vivid coming-of-age
tale, offering images sweet and sorrowful of a child caught on the
fault line between races."—USA Today
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