“Finally, the story we´ve been waiting for, delivered in page turning, finely tuned prose by one of my favorite writers.” – E. Lynn Harris, the late New York Times bestselling author.
Passing for Black is out! Click here to buy it or pick up a copy at your local bookstore.
Named one of Essence Magazine´s “10 Summer Sizzlers” and featured as an Ebony “hot pick,” Passing for Black is already receiving enthusiastic reviews. The New York Amsterdam News called the novel “an entertaining, riveting read,” and the Philadelphia Gay News reviewer described Passing for Black as “quick, fun and enjoyable as it explores Angela´s quest for her identity – being black, female and gay.”
Passing for Black
Synopsis
Published by Kensington Books, “Passing for Black” is set in the volatile minefield where race and sexual identity collide. It is a sexy, fast-paced urban novel about Angela Wright, a young black magazine writer who throws her orderly life into chaos when she begins a passionate affair with a woman.And not just any woman: Her undercover lover, Professor Caitlin Getty, is the provocative Humanities Department nemesis of Angela’s fiancé, Keith Redfield, a university professor of African-American studies.
Boldly probing issues of race, desire, sexuality, family, friendship, religion—and hair—through seductive storytelling and witty observation, “Passing for Black” follows Angela as she zigzags between two worlds, but somehow finds a place to be herself.
Stephanie Grant, author of the novels Map of Ireland and The Passion of Alice, recently described “Passing for Black” as “a very fast exuberantly funny novel E. Lynn Harris meets “The Devil Wears Prada.” Click here for a longer version of her thoughtful description of the book.
Passing for Black is a
very fast, exuberantly funny novel about the tension between the demands of
community (and I should say communities) and personal identity. This question
has a deep history among African American artists and writers - lots of very
famous people have addressed it -- Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston,
Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison as well as countless others. But
as much as this novel is informed by that august tradition, Passing for Black
shows other influences, more recent, and more, shall we say, ecstatically
pulpish. The lesbian novels of Ann Bannon come to mind, as does Jane Rule's
work of the 70s that managed to look at lesbian life in its complexity. What
makes Passing for Black so delightful to read is, in part, all that Linda
Villarosa knows about contemporary culture. When I first finished this
manuscript, I put it down and thought, Jeez, I need to get out more. Linda
covers an enormous amount of ground: contemporary Black cultures -- and by that
I mean black sexual culture, religious culture, the culture of middle-class
aspiration -- White Gloves and Party Manners - as well as a sexual movement
called - and I'm clearly out of my depth here: ejaculation control. And she
also covers a lot of queer ground: the transgender drama in lesbian circles,
lesbian baby boom, lesbian bed-death (are the two related?), the list goes on
an on. And if that's not enough, the book gives us an inside look at New
York's fashion magazine world. If I were to allow myself to indulge in the
publishing industry's favorite pastime, of fixing one book by comparing it
to two others, I would say Passing for Black is E Lynn Harris meets The Devil
Wears Prada. The book's narrator, Angela Wright is everything you want in a
narrator: she is smart and reticent, a terrific observer, both fair and
passionate, an intrepid journalist trapped in the body of a nice girl.
She's a wonderful travel guide, neither world-weary, nor absolute ingnue,
Angela is always interested and interesting. Her own personal drama - the
question of whether she was "passing" as black, as straight, or, even,
passing as a lesbian is truly compelling, but it is also revealing about the
culture at large. Passing for Black is always interested in big picture - the
big canvas - the messy world that we live in. For instance, the novel draws a
provocative parallel between transgender narratives and the struggle to be
"black enough," which will be of interest to a lot of folks - readers
both high and low. -Stephanie Grant, August 2008
