A lovely book! The adolescent narrator speaks beyond her age group through the words of her stand-in mother. A tender exploration of the nature of families, mothers and daughters, pain and loss all set against the naked racism of the early 1960's. As if the compelling characters, plot and sense of place weren't enough, the writing is exquisite -- emotions rendered so realistically, you can feel pain convulsing your stomach; metaphors so rich you want to read and reread to get every sweet bit from the honeycomb that is Kidd's writing. I highly recommend this book!