Growing Up Nigger Rich Hardcover - 2002

From the rear cover

To be nigger rich is to be held up in some places as an example of all that is right and good in life: to be educated, well spoken, wealthy, and versed in all the furnishings of polite society. It is also to be held up as a source of envy: to be despised, ostracized, and mocked for those same characteristics. It is a juxtaposition of privilege and powerlessness that holds the power of conviction in a world already polarized by class, race, and gender.

Born to a family of relative privilege, Gayla Tyner is everything that defines the "upper class." A professor at a major university in Michigan, the daughter of a prominent M.D., a dutiful wife and mother, she seems to have everything going for her.

But Gayla is haunted by the South, what it means, has meant, and is becoming. She is troubled by her relationships with her husband, her father, and the town that seems to hold the key to the mystery of herself. Nothing is as simple as black and white in this intricately plotted novel of coming home.

Praise for Gwendoline Fortune:
"Gwen Fortune lights up a niche of the American experience which has hitherto been in the dark. And she does so in a way that is both meaningful and exciting, making this a landmark novel."
--Robert Grover, author of A Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding

"Gwen Fortune takes us on an important journey in her debut novel, Growing Up Nigger Rich. It is a journey that will engage and enrich us."
--Susan Koppleman, editor Women in the Trees: U.S. Women's Stories about Battering and Resistance

"An important book because it forces us to confront the nature of stereotypes. The 'other' is always one-dimensional. How can we allow diversity, when that would mean the 'other' is just like us?"
--Judith Ernst, publisher Parvardigar Press

Born in Houston, Texas, Gwendoline Y. Fortune grew up hearing stories of her "mixed blood" heritage: a free-born black great-grandfather, Native Americans, Scots-Irish, a cowboy grandfather, a Confederate great-grandfather, and relatives who were missionaries in pre-World War II China. She went to college at the age of fifteen and has been writing ever since. Selections from Growing Up Nigger Rich placed in the top twelve entries of the annual Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society competition and second place in the National Black Writers' Conference Awards.

From the jacket flap

To be nigger rich is to be held up in some places as an example of all that is right and good in life: to be educated, well spoken, wealthy, and versed in all the furnishings of polite society. It is also to be held up as a source of envy: to be despised, ostracized, and mocked for those same characteristics. It is a juxtaposition of privilege and powerlessness that holds the power of conviction in a world already polarized by class, race, and gender.

Born to a family of relative privilege, Gayla Tyner is everything that defines the "upper class." A professor at a major university in Michigan, the daughter of a prominent M.D., a dutiful wife and mother, she seems to have everything going for her.

But Gayla is haunted by the South, what it means, has meant, and is becoming. She is troubled by her relationships with her husband, her father, and the town that seems to hold the key to the mystery of herself. Nothing is as simple as black and white in this intricately plotted novel of coming home.

Praise for Gwendoline Fortune:
"Gwen Fortune lights up a niche of the American experience which has hitherto been in the dark. And she does so in a way that is both meaningful and exciting, making this a landmark novel."
--Robert Grover, author of A Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding

"Gwen Fortune takes us on an important journey in her debut novel, Growing Up Nigger Rich. It is a journey that will engage and enrich us."
--Susan Koppleman, editor Women in the Trees: U.S. Women's Stories about Battering and Resistance

"An important book because it forces us to confront the nature of stereotypes. The 'other' is always one-dimensional. How can we allow diversity, when that would mean the 'other' is just like us?"
--Judith Ernst, publisher Parvardigar Press

Born in Houston, Texas, Gwendoline Y. Fortune grew up hearing stories of her "mixed blood" heritage: a free-born black great-grandfather, Native Americans, Scots-Irish, a cowboy grandfather, a Confederate great-grandfather, and relatives who were missionaries in pre-World War II China. She went to college at the age of fifteen and has been writing ever since. Selections from Growing Up Nigger Rich placed in the top twelve entries of the annual Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society competition and second place in the National Black Writers' Conference Awards.

Media reviews

Citations

• Multicultural Review, 12/01/2002, Page 68
• Publishers Weekly, 04/01/2002, Page 0
• PW Notes and Reprints, 04/01/2002, Page 55
• Qbr the Black Book Review, 09/01/2002, Page 25