Daddy Was a Number Runner - (Contemporary Classics by Women) by Louise Meriwether (Paperback)

About the Book

New edition of "a tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling toward womanhood."

Book Synopsis

New edition of "a tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling toward womanhood."

Review Quotes

"The novel's greatest achievement lies in the strong sense of black life that it conveys: the vitality and force behind the despair. It celebrates the positive values of the black experience: the tenderness and love that often underlie the abrasive surface of relationships . . . the humor that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk. . . . A most important novel."
--Paule Marshall, The New York Times Book Review

"Daddy Was a Number Runner is not sugar-coated or show. It is truth lived in the vernacular--a Black girl's humor and empathy as she comes to understand Harlem's dreams and tragedies . . . from inside out. Louise Meriwether's voice is the Black feminist novelist's equivalent of the Blues. If you like modern classics by Naylor, Morrison, and Marshall, you will love this. . . . You will not be able to put it down or forget Francie, one of my all-time favorite characters."
--Mary Libertin, Belles Lettres

"A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival."
--Publishers Weekly