MOSTLY WHITE
by Alison Hart
PRAISE FOR MOSTLY WHITE
“So compelling it gave me goosebumps from the very first pages.”
—ISABEL ALLENDE
National Book Award-winning author of In the Midst of Winter and The House of Spirits
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“Blood ties spanning almost a century connect Emma, an Indian Residential School runaway, to her great-granddaughter, Ella, a struggling actor. Hart draws on autobiographical details, turning her truth to fiction.”
—BOOKLIST
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"Explores intergenerational trauma and power as these women survive and thrive, rising above poverty, racism and abuse through their connection with community, music, their ancestors and the power of nature."
—EAST BAY TIMES
“Hart has written a great American epic, which should be read and discussed for many generations to come.”
—LUCILLE LANG DAY, author of Married at Fourteen: A True Story and Becoming an Ancestor
“In a world clamoring for diverse voices and characters in whom readers can see themselves, as well as learning about people different from themselves, Alison Hart’s Mostly White is a beacon. Through the story of four generations of women, from a mixed-race Native and African American family, our eyes and hearts are opened to a world we may not know, but should.”
—ANDREW WEINER, Abrams Books
“The trickle-down effect of genocidal practices (and) values; many of you have forgotten but our souls bear the costs of your purposely lost memories . . . and here are some of those soul stories . . . read and weep for us all. . . . Thank you, Alison, for remembering the ancestors.”
—ABBY ABINANTI, Yurok, Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribal Court
“There is a genius of the heart, as well as the mind, and this book gives profound evidence that the author possesses both in abundance . . . Ms. Hart is not only keeping the faith, but she is passing it on to anyone who shares the epic heart-rending and soul-lifting experience of this book . . . a stunning achievement.”
—ROBERTA LEE TENNANT, Falcon Books
“The immediate trust and bond of spirit meets the eruption of soul-searching prose, poetry, and the history of us all! Powerful and dangerous because these women are so real!”
—JERRY THOMPSON, co-editor of Oakland Noir and Berkeley Noir
November 2018 | Fiction | 978-1-937226-95-4 | 174 pp
ALISON HART studied theater at New York University and later found her voice as a writer. She identifies as a mixed-race African American, Passamaquoddy Native American, Irish, Scottish, and English woman of color. Her poetry collection Temp Words was published by Cosmo Press in 2015, and her poems appear in Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2016) and elsewhere. Hart lives in Alameda, California.
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Author website
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Spanning four generations of a mixed-race family, Mostly White is a powerful tale of inter-generational trauma and the healing brought by wildness, music, and the resilience of women. From Emma, who survives the abuse of an Indian residential school in 1890s Maine, to Ella, who navigates color lines in 1980s New York City, Alison Hart’s unforgettable characters fight to form their own identities and honor the call of their ancestors.
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