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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

THE OTHER MOTHER

Rachel Harper

For fans of Jesmyn Ward, Rebecca Makkai, and Justin Torres.
A page-turning generational saga about a young man's search for a parent he never knew, and a moving portrait of motherhood, race, and the truths we hide in the name of family.

Jenry Castillo is a musical prodigy, raised by a single mother in Miami, who arrives at Brown University on a
scholarship—but also to learn more about his late father, Jasper Patterson, a famous ballet dancer who died tragically when Jenry was two. On his search, he meets his estranged grandfather, Winston Patterson, a legendary professor of African American history and a fixture at the Ivy League school, who explodes his world with one question: Why is Jenry so focused on Jasper, when it was Winston's daughter, Juliet, who was Jenry's mother's lover? Juliet is the parent he should be looking for—his other mother.

Revelation follows revelation as each member of Jenry's family steps forward to tell the story of his origin. Cartwheeling between the past and the present to stitch together the web of secrecy binding this family together while keeping them apart, The Other Mother is a celebration of love and resilience—masterfully exploring the intersections of race, class, and sexuality; the role of biology in defining who belongs to whom; and the complicated truth of what it means to be a family.

Rachel Harper is the author of the novels Brass Ankle Blues and This Side of Providence, which was short-listed for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has been widely published and anthologized. Harper has received fellowships from Yaddo and
MacDowell, and is on the faculty at Spalding University's School of Writing. She lives in Los Angeles. Find out more at rachelmharper.com.
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Book

Published 2022-05-01 by Counterpoint

Comments

"[A] singular and compelling story of family secrets"

"A sprawling, multigenerational portrait of a mixed-race family that begins with a man's quest to uncover the truth of his origins . . . Harper has created a novel about longing, loss, kinship, talent, queerness, and what makes a family . . . A novel about the families we inherit and the ones we make for ourselves."

"As suspenseful as it is touching . . . A queer generational saga set in academia? Sold."

"A gripping multigenerational family story . . . This emotionally complex and deftly told story centers Black queer women whose choices come from a place of love and agency."

"Gripping."

"Riveting . . . Harper skillfully layers the narrative with accounts from the various characters' points of view, capturing palpable emotions and the fissures running through their fraught relations, all the while handling themes of motherhood, race, and sexuality with aplomb. This adds up to a heartrending story."