Passing
By: Nella Larsen ; introduction by Ntozake Shange.
Edition: 2000 Modern Library ed.
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 182
Subjects: African American women -- Fiction.; Racially mixed people -- Fiction.; Identity (Psychology) -- Fiction.; Passing (Identity) -- Fiction.; Female friendship -- Fiction.; Human skin color -- Fiction.; Married women -- Fiction.; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: "First published to critical acclaim in 1929, Passing firmly established Nella Larsen's prominence among women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Passing is a story of two women who cross the color line in 1920s New York - together with a new Introduction by the Obie Award-winning playwright and novelist Ntozake Shange." "Irene Redfield, the novel's protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem town house with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem's elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch. Clare - light-skinned, beautiful, and charming - tells Irene how, after her father's death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene's life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare's dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception."--BOOK JACKET.