The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl

(Paperback)

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The Color of Love is a story of our moment, ripe with themes of identity, racism, family politics, and more, expanding the national conversation around these topics with a voice that comes from a fresh, multi-identity perspective: an adopted, mixed-race, natural-born Jewish woman. This debut memoir is an utterly singular first-person narrative that will appeal to readers of other recent debuts such as Educated, Heart Berries, and All You Can Ever Know. This inspirational story will appeal to a wide range of readers-from adoptees to Alzheimer's caregivers-and its exploration of complex (often unspoken) social dynamics will resonate acutely with anyone who has been othered in spaces that are supposed to be safe-families, religious organizations, and friend groups. Although much of the author's childhood was marked by racism and trauma, at base this is a universal story about familial bonds and choosing love no matter what. Marra is a producer of television and film, and there is an opportunity to use her high-profile contacts to increase visibility for the book.

Reviews

Praise for Marra B. Gads The Color of Love: Winner of the 2020 Midwest Book Award in Autobiography/Memoir presented by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association "In The Color of Love, Gad tells her story in straightforward, unadorned prose. . . . The reader is left to marvel at Gad's magnanimity. In the face of a lifetime of racially motivated aggression, she consistently chooses love."Jerusalem Post "This beautiful memoir will stay with readers long after the last page is turned."The Reporter "Offers a Jewish mode of love. . . Institutions have much to learn from reading The Color of Love." Jewschool.com "An easy narrative on a complicated experience. It is a deeply personal story through which the author has shared a perspective that is seldom told."Jewish Book Council "In beautiful, fearless prose, Gad tells a story...that is alternately heart-wrenching and heartwarming." JUF News "Gad's message about resisting hate is solid. . . . [An] honest memoir about looking beyond hate to find some semblance of peace on the other side."Kirkus Reviews "The Color of Love provides a much needed voice to this space in society today. But maybe even more than this, Marra's story serves as a reminder, a guide for all of us, from all backgrounds, to choose love. Always."Glassworks "Marra's journey to unconditional love, forgiveness, and compassion in the face of hate and rejection is nothing short of miraculous."Tina Alexis Allen, author of Hiding Out Marra B. Gads The Color of Love is a timely and touching memoir of a biracial girl adopted by a Jewish family. It is a story of her awakening to the inherent pressures of being black and female in a white world, pressures that are compounded by being adopted and raised in a white Jewish culture. Her pursuit to live a life of love in a world of racial, religious, and anti-feminist hate and bigotry was a continuous battle toward finding her soul. For a good life-affirming read, I highly recommend The Color of Love.Ron Stallworth, New York Timesbestselling author of Black Klansman An astonishing and important story, memorably told, with lessons that reach across race, religion, and culture.David Wolpe, Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and author of David: The Divided Heart Marra B. Gads is a compelling story, beautifully and authentically written, about her life as a mixed-race Jewish girl adopted by a white Chicago family in the 70s. The compassion, patience, and caring required of anyone in Marras position is exquisitely demonstrated in this book: it has a lot to teach us.Jane Wolf Frances, social worker, psychologist, and author of Parenting Our Parents: Transforming the Challenge into a Journey of Love The Color of Love by Marra B. Gad is a book I wish had existed when I was a young Iraqi immigrant in Kentucky trying to make sense of my own otherness. But whereas I spent my youth working to correctly pronounce my rs so I sounded American or being called Mexican because Iraq was not yet a household word, Gad was confronting flat-out racism from her own relatives. Her unflinching account of these inconceivable experiences is balanced with compassion and an empathy for those who judge her. And that makes her a total badass.Ayser Salman, author of The Wrong End of the Table With humor, tears, and most of all, searing honesty, Marra Gad takes us inside her world, the world of a mixed-race Jew who knows both a familys boundless devotion and the daily indignitiesand worseof those who cannot see past their prejudice. Faced with the ultimate dilemma, she draws on love, the force that single-handedly carried her through the peaks and valleys of a challenging yet full and happy life. Her story of choosing grace and generosity in the most unimaginable moments holds lessons for us all.Daniel Shapiro, former ambassador of the United States to Israel This is not a story youve heard before. I was blown away by how engrossed I became in The Color of Love and was compelled to find out what happens next to the books heroine and author in this true story. Gads fresh voice manages to bring the reader into her heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, and often comedic journey, resulting in a memorable page-turner that you will not want to end.Rosa Blasi, actress and author of Jock Itch I read The Color of Love in just a few sittings and was always eager to dive back into Marra Gads dramatic, fascinating memoir. Marras tale of caring for her elderly aunt who rejected her throughout her life is a story about choicesdeciding in times of duress, often to our own surprise, exactly the kind of person we want to be. Marra Gad had ever reason to never see or speak to her aunt againNette had been cruel and racistthoroughly and publicly rejecting Marra for being mixed race. Yet at the end of Nettes life, Marra decides, step-by-step and month-by-month, to step in so Nette can have a life with dignity as Alzheimers and a cruel conservator strip her of everything that once mattered to her. Having had a mother die with Alzheimers disease, I was captivated by Marras brave, honest story. A powerful story of love chosen, not deserved. Laura Davis, author of The Courage to Heal and The Burning Light of Two Stars

Author Bio

Marra B. Gad was born in New York and raised in Chicago. She is an independent film and television producer and now calls Los Angeles home.

Ms. Gad is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds a masters degree in modern Jewish history from Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University.