The Good Negress
A Novel
by A. J. Verdelle
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Pub Date Nov 22 2016 | Archive Date Jan 06 2017
Description
“Haunting . . . To read The Good Negress is to fall under a spell, to open a window, to fly.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
Twenty years after its initial publication, The Good Negress continues to be an important part of the literary canon, as relevant and necessary as ever. Set in 1960s Detroit, the novel centers around Denise Palms, who leaves her grandmother’s home in rural Virginia to reunite with her mother, stepfather, and older brothers. As a black teenage girl, Denise is given scarce opportunity beyond cooking, cleaning, and raising her mother’s baby. But an idealistic, demanding teacher opens Denise’s eyes to a future she has never considered, and soon she begins to question the limits of the life prescribed to her.
With lyrical, evocative prose, A. J. Verdelle captures Denise’s journey from adolescence to womanhood as she navigates the tension between loyalty and independence, and between circumstance and desire. The Good Negress is an unforgettable debut—simultaneously the portrait of a family and a glimpse into an era of twentieth-century America.
Winner of the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Twenty years after its initial publication, The Good Negress continues to be an important part of the literary canon, as relevant and necessary as ever. Set in 1960s Detroit, the novel centers around Denise Palms, who leaves her grandmother’s home in rural Virginia to reunite with her mother, stepfather, and older brothers. As a black teenage girl, Denise is given scarce opportunity beyond cooking, cleaning, and raising her mother’s baby. But an idealistic, demanding teacher opens Denise’s eyes to a future she has never considered, and soon she begins to question the limits of the life prescribed to her.
With lyrical, evocative prose, A. J. Verdelle captures Denise’s journey from adolescence to womanhood as she navigates the tension between loyalty and independence, and between circumstance and desire. The Good Negress is an unforgettable debut—simultaneously the portrait of a family and a glimpse into an era of twentieth-century America.
Winner of the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
A Note From the Publisher
The Good Negress was first published in hardcover in 1995, and Algonquin Books could not be more excited to be re-releasing this stunning debut in paperback (pub date: December 6, 2016). Hailed by Toni Morrison as "truly extraordinary," this provocative novel still rings true today.
Advance Praise
“Truly extraordinary.” —Toni Morrison
“In a particularly accomplished debut, Verdelle imbues her ambitious novel with a confident style, finely realized characters and a strikingly original first-person voice . . . Consistently absorbing and beautifully detailed, Verdelle's novel brings universal truths to an affecting study of adolescence.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This excellent first novel examines issues of the black experience in America in a new voice.” —Library Journal
“Verdelle's first novel resounds, her vibrant prose ringing clear.” —LA Times
“If you haven't already discovered this writer, don't overlook her debut: it's an extraordinary literary achievement portraying a young black woman's coming of age.” —Midwest Book Review
“A knife-edged, poignant debut.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Deftly crafted and sweetly fought out. Verdelle shatters perceptions quietly and Denise stays with us, as she should.” —The Boston Globe
“I’ve never used the word ‘genius’ in a book review before, but in the case of A.J. Verdelle’s first novel, The Good Negress, no other word will do. It’s a virtuoso performance at the level of craft, and at the human level, totally real and absorbing . . . Verdelle’s diction, idiom, syntax, spelling, and punctuation make her narrator’s speech jump off the page: the sound of the language, its rhythm and intonations, like a rich music, fill your blood. You feel Neesey from the inside through her use of words; a close companionship that made me want the story not to end…The author’s depth of feeling is as great as her verbal skill. Verdelle knows how to stay with a moment, how to mine it, and how to let us feel the infinity of things we’ll never know . . . Writing like this doesn’t come along very often.”—Raleigh News and Observer
“Like Their Eyes Were Watching God, here is a novel about a woman’s voice, and a woman’s coming-of-age, and a woman gaining her own power. Intelligent, sorrowful, warm, and intimate, this portrait clearly marks a powerful debut into a long and proud tradition of American letters.”—Randall Kenan, author of Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
“In a particularly accomplished debut, Verdelle imbues her ambitious novel with a confident style, finely realized characters and a strikingly original first-person voice . . . Consistently absorbing and beautifully detailed, Verdelle's novel brings universal truths to an affecting study of adolescence.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This excellent first novel examines issues of the black experience in America in a new voice.” —Library Journal
“Verdelle's first novel resounds, her vibrant prose ringing clear.” —LA Times
“If you haven't already discovered this writer, don't overlook her debut: it's an extraordinary literary achievement portraying a young black woman's coming of age.” —Midwest Book Review
“A knife-edged, poignant debut.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Deftly crafted and sweetly fought out. Verdelle shatters perceptions quietly and Denise stays with us, as she should.” —The Boston Globe
“I’ve never used the word ‘genius’ in a book review before, but in the case of A.J. Verdelle’s first novel, The Good Negress, no other word will do. It’s a virtuoso performance at the level of craft, and at the human level, totally real and absorbing . . . Verdelle’s diction, idiom, syntax, spelling, and punctuation make her narrator’s speech jump off the page: the sound of the language, its rhythm and intonations, like a rich music, fill your blood. You feel Neesey from the inside through her use of words; a close companionship that made me want the story not to end…The author’s depth of feeling is as great as her verbal skill. Verdelle knows how to stay with a moment, how to mine it, and how to let us feel the infinity of things we’ll never know . . . Writing like this doesn’t come along very often.”—Raleigh News and Observer
“Like Their Eyes Were Watching God, here is a novel about a woman’s voice, and a woman’s coming-of-age, and a woman gaining her own power. Intelligent, sorrowful, warm, and intimate, this portrait clearly marks a powerful debut into a long and proud tradition of American letters.”—Randall Kenan, author of Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781616205270 |
| PRICE | $15.95 (USD) |
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