One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life - A Story of Race and Family Secrets

(Paperback)

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Description

Ever since renowned literary critic Anatole Broyard's own parents, New Orleans Creoles, had moved to Brooklyn and began to "pass" in order to get work, he had learned to conceal his racial identity. As he grew older and entered the ranks of the New York literary elite, he maintained the fa ade. Now his daughter Bliss tries to make sense of his choices and the impact of this revelation on her own life. She searches out the family she never knew in New York and New Orleans, and considers the profound consequences of racial identity. With unsparing candor and nuanced insight, Broyard chronicles her evolution from sheltered WASP to a woman of mixed race ancestry.

Reviews

'Extraordinary...ONE DROP does a great deal to puncture the whole illusion of race' MADISON SMARTT BELL, AUTHOR OF TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE 'Bliss Broyard delivers an emotional blend of family history, social history and memoir. Well-researched and beautifully written, Broyard's book is at once a trenchant exploration of the consequences of racial differences in America and a highly personal search for identity, family and forgiveness' - A.M. Homes, author of THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE 'fascinating, insightful book...deals engrossingly with the stories of Ms Broyard and her closest relatives and the heart of "One Drop" lies with the author's father' - NEW YORK TIMES

Author Bio

Bliss Broyard is the author of My Father, Dancing, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the year. Her fiction and essays have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize Anthology and The Art of the Essay.