East of Troost - by Ellen Barker (Paperback)

About the Book

Troost is a real street. East of it is where you can buy a house if you're Black. It's also where our middle-aged white narrator grew up--and where she has just returned to reboot her life. How will she fare in this vastly changed world? This fictional story, punctuated by factual memoir, is by turns soul-searching, entertaining, and heartbreaking.

Book Synopsis

Under the guise of a starting-over story, this novel deals with subtle racism today, overt racism in the past, and soul-searching about what to do about it in everyday living.

East of Troost's fictional narrator has moved back to her childhood home in a neighborhood that is now mostly Black and vastly changed by an expressway that displaced hundreds of families. It is the area located east of Troost Avenue, an invisible barrier created in the early 1900s to keep the west side of Kansas City white, "safely" cordoned off from the Black families on the east side.

When the narrator moves back to her old neighborhood in pursuit of a sense of home, she deals with crime, home repair, and skepticism--what is this middle-aged white woman doing here, living alone? Supported by a wise neighbor, a stalwart dog, and the local hardware store, we see her navigate her adult world while we get glimpses of author Ellen Barker's real life there as a teenager in the sixties, when white families were fleeing and Black families moving in--and sometimes back out when met with hatred and violence. A regional story with universal themes, East of Troost goes to the basics of human behavior: compassion and cruelty, fear and courage, comedy and drama.

Review Quotes

"The pace was perfect, and there was never a dull moment. The momentum suited the story exceptionally well. Ellen Barker wrote an emotive tale with a fascinating protagonist and a powerful message."
--Readers' Favorite, 5-star review

"Rarely does a debut novel succeed on multiple levels, but Ellen Barker's East of Troost is not your ordinary fare. Barker's story speaks deeply of grief and comfort, prejudice and reconciliation, isolation and community. Much enjoyed and highly recommended."
--Drew Hill, author of Crossing the Tracks

"Ellen Barker has written a book that should give women of a certain age and privilege a lot to think about. What happens when you try to go home again, and what can you learn in the process?"
--Beth Lisick, author of Edie on the Green Screen and New York Times bestseller Everyone into the Pool

"A quiet, candid recalibration of memories against a changed landscape, Ellen Barker's East of Troost is a journey both touching and powerful, reminding us how gentle courage and faith in humanity can overcome the fear of what divides."
--Lorraine Devon Wilke, author of The Alchemy of Noise

"The chapters in Ellen Barker's timely novel East of Troost read like entries in a diary--a year in the life of a white woman who decides to move into a black neighborhood. Why does she do this? Will she and her neighbors get along? We keep reading, eager to find out."
--Jill McCroskey Coupe, author of Beginning with Cannonballs

About the Author

Ellen Barker grew up in Kansas City during a period of demographic upheaval, and she returns there in her novels. She has a bachelor's degree in urban studies from Washington University in Saint Louis, where she developed a passion for how cities work, and don't. She began her career as an urban planner, then spent many years working for large consulting firms, first as a writer-editor and later managing large data systems. Her volunteer work involves years of pet-assisted therapy with children in "the system," both foster care and prison. She is the author of East of Troost, which introduced readers to the neighborhood where The Breaks takes place, and Still Needs Work, which takes place in the same area. She now lives in Los Altos, California, with her husband and their German shepherd, Boris, who is the inspiration for the dog in this novel.