Daddy Was a Number Runner / Edition 1

by Louise Meriwether, James Baldwin, Nellie Y. McKay

Overview

This beloved modern classic documents the lives and hardships of an African American family living in Depression-era Harlem. While 12-year-old Francie Coffin’s world and family threaten to fall apart, this remarkable young heroine must call upon her own wit and endurance to survive amidst the treacheries of racism and sexism, poverty and violence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558614420
Publisher:	Feminist Press at CUNY, The
Publication date:	12/01/2002
Series:	Contemporary Classics by Women Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	187,012
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher