Black Lotus
A Woman's Search for Racial Identity
by Sil Lai Abrams
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Pub Date Aug 02 2016 | Archive Date Jun 06 2017
Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books | Gallery Books/Karen Hunter Publishing
Description
Author and activist Sil Lai Abrams was born to a Chinese immigrant mother and a white American father. Out of her family, Sil Lai was the only one with a tousle of wild curls and brown skin. When she asked about her darker complexion, she was given vague answers. At fourteen, the man she knew her entire life as her birth-father divulged that Abrams was not his biological child, but instead the daughter of a man of African descent who didn’t know she existed.
This shocking news sparked a quest for healing that would take her down the painful road to reclaim her identity despite the overt racism in her community and her own internalized racism and self-hatred. Abrams struggled with depression, abuse, and an addiction that nearly destroyed her. But eventually she would leave behind the shame over her birthright and move toward a celebration of her blackness.
In Black Lotus, Abrams takes you on her odyssey filled with extreme highs and lows and the complexities of not only the black experience, but also the human one. This vivid story reexamines everything you think you know about racial identity while affirming the ability of the human spirit to triumph over tragedy. Ultimately, Black Lotus shines a light on the transformative power of truth and self-acceptance, and the importance of defining your personal identity on your own terms.
A Note From the Publisher
Please check back on July 5th for events with Sil Lai Abrams!
Advance Praise
“Like a slow, steady bass line, Sil Lai viscerally draws you into her aching journey to find her place in the world.”
—Nile Rodgers, Grammy award-winning composer, producer, cofounding member of CHIC, and author of Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny
“[A] wonderfully realized and beautifully written memoir…“Compelling . . . Resonant. I felt her story represented a broader narrative of the black experience that deserved an audience.”
—Amy DuBois Barnett, former editor in chief of EBONY magazine
“Her ability to own her identity as a biracial woman with a troubled past is the greatest strength of this compelling narrative. A searingly honest coming-of-age memoir.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Abrams has had to contend with neglect, outright and persistent lies of omission about her racial background…and rejection and abandonment by those she loved. A self-destructive streak develops during rebellious teen years…and worsens during her early adulthood in New York as she struggled between the familiar, nurtured, yet fictional racial identity she accepted and the unfamiliar, actual racial identity she wants to embrace. Later life changes and family tragedies led Abrams to find her firmest footing once she was sober and alone, far from her contentious past.”
—Booklist
“In her honest account of her tumultuous, loveless childhood, lost girl years, and her painful search for identity, Sil Lai Abrams opens her heart and bravely owns her story.”
—Wendy Lawless, New York Times bestselling author of Chanel Bonfire
“[Black Lotus] resonates powerfully with generations of people growing up in our multicultural society.”
—Walter M. Kimbrough, PhD, president of Dillard University
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781451688467 |
| PRICE | $24.99 (USD) |
