Description

Book Synopsis


Trade Review
Louise Meriwether has told everyone who can read or feel what it means to be a black man or woman in this country . . . A considerable achievement -- James Baldwin
Beautiful, timeless and relevant -- Jacqueline Woodson
A remarkable heroine. Tough, resourceful, darting around Harlem with the number slips for her father tucked in her middy-blouse pocket, she is, at the same time, vulnerable, innocent, a dreamer . . . 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 humour that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk . . . A most important novel -- Paule Marshall * New York Times Book Review *
A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival * Publishers Weekly *
Meriwether's writing is beautiful, layered, and gutting * Paris Review *

Daddy Was A Number Runner Virago Modern Classics

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 13 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Louise Meriwether

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      Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 03/06/2021
      ISBN13: 9780349015927, 978-0349015927
      ISBN10: 0349015929
      Also in:
      Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis


      Trade Review
      Louise Meriwether has told everyone who can read or feel what it means to be a black man or woman in this country . . . A considerable achievement -- James Baldwin
      Beautiful, timeless and relevant -- Jacqueline Woodson
      A remarkable heroine. Tough, resourceful, darting around Harlem with the number slips for her father tucked in her middy-blouse pocket, she is, at the same time, vulnerable, innocent, a dreamer . . . 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 humour that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk . . . A most important novel -- Paule Marshall * New York Times Book Review *
      A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival * Publishers Weekly *
      Meriwether's writing is beautiful, layered, and gutting * Paris Review *

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