prolific Haitian author Edwidge Danticat, Brown Girl, Brownstones is the work of one of America’s finest contemporary black women writers.Set in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II, it chronicles the efforts of Barbadian immigrants to surmount poverty and racism and to make their new country home. Selina Boyce, the novel’s memorable heroine, is conflicted by the opposing aspirations of her parents: her hardworking, ambitious mother longs to buy a brownstone row house while her easygoing father prefers to dream of effortless success and his native island’s lushness. Eventually, in this coming-of-age story, Selina must forge her own identity, sexuality, and sense of values in her new country and reconcile group tradition with individual potential.

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