Mother of pearl
Subtitle: a novel
By: Melinda Haynes.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 448
Subjects: African American men -- Fiction; Race relations -- Fiction; Teenage girls -- Fiction; Mississippi -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: Set in a small Mississippi town in the late 1950s, Mother of Pearl is populated by original characters with themes of identity and the true meaning of family interwoven throughout. The story revolves around twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, a fifteen-year-old white girl who is the daughter of the town whore and an unknown father.

Their paths cross through Joody Two Sun, a seer, who sets up camp along the riverbank just outside of town and becomes Even's lover. Both Even and Valuable are seeking the family, love, and commitment they never had, and their search ultimately takes both of them to places they never dreamed they'd go.