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An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy
A searing tribute of sisterhood and family, profound love and loss from the acclaimed author of The World According to Fannie Davis.
In Love, Rita, Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, a vivacious woman who in leaving home to attend Fisk University and then becoming a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and later a popular special ed teacher, modeled for her younger sister Bridgett how to live boldly before her own life was tragically cut short by lupus. A brave and beautiful homage that both celebrates the special, complex bond of sisterhood yet also reveals what it is to live, and die, as a Black woman in America.
This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, family history and American history, uses Rita's life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women—and the men they love; it is essential reading for fans of Jesmyn Ward, Kiese Laymon, James McBride, Linda Villarosa, and Tressie McMillan Cottom.
"Poignant and intense, this book not only explores the complexity of sister bonds but also brings to the fore how living in a racist society can destroy the health and well-being of non-white individuals and families. A powerful tribute to sisterhood and the complex fragility of Black lives." —Kirkus Reviews
"Davis painted a portrait of her mother in The World According to Fannie Davis (2019); here, she memorializes her older sister Rita, a vibrant, protective storyteller who made an outsize impact on those around her during her 44-year life...her heartfelt writing honors her sister's legacy and the many lives she touched." —Booklist
"A riveting and often heartbreaking portrait of Davis' beloved older sister… [and] a sober reflection on the impact that racism and the medical establishment have on the lives of Black Americans… By the end, the reader will come to agree with the words Davis wrote in her sister's obituary: 'Rita was unforgettable.'" —BookPage
"This is an elegy, a celebration of a life, and a celebration of life itself. Love and grief are themselves sisters, one the proof of the other's existence. Bridgett Davis loves out loud, loves like no one is watching— bravely with tenderness, vulnerability, and even humor. The complexity, audacity, and tenacity of sisterhood are strands braided into this unforgettable memoir." —Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage
"Love, Rita is a beautiful and heart wrenching exploration of the relationship between wound, history, inheritance, and disease. In this story of Black sisterhood, familial love and devotion are proven to be the Grace notes of our existence. Everyone who lives with or is impacted by chronic disease should read this book." —Imani Perry, New York Times bestselling author of South to America
"Love, Rita is on one level a personal tribute to a lost sister, but its scope is wider, looking at illness as a collective accumulation spanning back centuries. This book made me think in new ways about all we carry in our bodies - those of us who survive and those who don't. Achingly beautiful, truthful and deep." —Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia and Colored Television
This information about Love, Rita was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Nina Subin
Bridgett M. Davis is the author of the memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life In The Detroit Numbers, a New York Times Editors' Choice, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, and featured as a clue on Jeopardy!. She is author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow, and Shifting Through Neutral. Davis is also writer/director of the award-winning film Naked Acts, which was recently re-released to critical acclaim. She is Professor Emerita at Baruch College (CUNY) and the Graduate Center, where she taught creative, narrative and film writing. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the LA Times, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.
Be sincere, be brief, be seated
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