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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO FANNIE DAVIS

Bridgett M. Davis

My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers

A DAUGHTER'S LOVE FOR HER DAZZLING MOTHER IS AT THE
HEART OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO FANNIE DAVIS
In 1958, a pretty young mother from Nashville, Tennessee borrowed $100 from her brother to run a Numbers racket out of her tattered apartment on Delaware Street, in one of Detroit's worst sections. That woman was Fannie Davis, Bridgett M. Davis' mother.

A kind of Ulysses, Fannie became more than a numbers runner, guiding both her husbands, five children and a grandson through the decimation of a once-proud city using her wit, style, guts, and even gun. She ran her numbers business for 34 years, doing what it took to survive in a legitimate business that just happened to be illegal. She created a loving, joyful home, and when the tragedy of urban life struck, soldiered on with her stated belief: "Dying is easy. Living takes guts."

The World According to Fannie Davis is a daughter's moving homage to an extraordinary parent, as well as the suspenseful, unforgettable story about the lengths to which a mother will go and how those sacrifices resonate over time. This timely and deeply relatable portrait of one American family is essential reading.

Bridgett M. Davis is the author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow (Feminist Press, 2014) and Shifting Through Neutral (Amistad, 2005). She is also writer/director of the award-winning feature film Naked Acts; her work has appeared in Salon, Essence, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Root and The Washington Post. A native of Detroit, she's a graduate of Spelman College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She teaches creative and film writing at Baruch College, CUNY, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and two children.
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Published 2019-01-29 by Little, Brown

Comments

"Novelist Davis (Into the Go-Slow) honors her mother in this lively and heartfelt memoir of growing up in 1960s and '70s Detroit. This charming tale of a strong and inspirational woman offers a tantalizing glimpse into the past, savoring the good without sugarcoating the bad."—Publishers Weekly

"In this admiring and highly compelling memoir, Bridgett Davis tells the story of her beloved mother. This is not a story about capitalizing on degeneracy. It is one of hope and hustling in a world where to have the former almost demanded the latter. This outstanding book is a tribute to one woman but will surely speak to the experiences of many."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Optioned, details to come

"Blending memoir and social history, [Bridgett M. Davis] recounts her mother's extraordinary story alongside the larger context of Motor City's rise and fall."—The New York Times Daily Review

“The story of Fannie Davis, as her daughter so thoroughly tells it, is the story of not just one woman, in one city, at one period in time; it is, in many ways, the story of black America, the resilience and solidarity of the marginalized.” —Entertainment Weekly

"A rich and heartwarming memoir honors a remarkable mother .We need more stories like Fannie's—the triumph and good life of a lucky black woman in a deeply corrupt world."—The New York Times Book Review