by Pearl Cleage

My co-workers have heard ad nauseum about how excited I was to read this book. It starts out in D.C. (where I grew up) then moves to the West End neighborhood of Atlanta (where I live now) and even has a minor character named Toni (who is nothing like me, but makes me happy anyway).  Thanks, Pearl!

After her estranged father, civil rights pioneer Rev. Horace Dunbar, makes some confusing, disparaging comments about the newly elected president, Ida Dunbar is called home by a family friend to help get to the bottom of things.  She’s hesitant to leave D.C. for a trip home to Atlanta, because she is waiting to hear about a job with the same administration that her father is condemning.

This is a very timely novel that draws upon the little talked about divide between the old school leaders of the Black community and the new school devotees of  “Hope and Change”.  Although I felt that it wrapped up a little too neatly and quickly, I really enjoyed it.