Danzy Senna Books

From the author of New People and Colored Television, the extraordinary national bestseller that launched Danzy Senna’s literary career “Superbly illustrates the emotional toll that politics and race take … Haunting.” —The New York Times Book Review Birdie and Cole are the daughters of a black father and a white mother, intellectuals and activists in the Civil Rights Movement in 1970s Boston. The sisters are so close that they speak their own language, yet Birdie, with her light skin and straight hair, is often mistaken for white, while Cole is dark enough to fit in with the other kids at school. Despite their differences, Cole is Birdie’s confidant, her protector, the mirror by which she understands herself. Then their parents’ marriage collapses. One night Birdie watches her father and his new girlfriend drive away with Cole. Soon Birdie and her mother are on the road as well, drifting across the country in search of a new home. But for Birdie, home will always be Cole. Haunted by the loss of her sister, she sets out a desperate search for the family that left her behind. A modern classic, Caucasia is at once a powerful coming of age story and a groundbreaking work on identity and race in America.

The narrative explores the tumultuous marriage of two American writers from contrasting backgrounds, highlighting their initial promise against the backdrop of societal expectations. As the union unravels after eight years, the painful split echoes the complexities of race and identity, transforming their once-symbolic relationship into a poignant reflection on love, loss, and the impact of history on personal lives. The story delves into themes of hope, disillusionment, and the struggles faced by families navigating cultural divides.

Birdie and her sister just want to be normal but it's difficult growing up with a black academic father and a white activist mother. Soon her parents' relationship becomes strained and they split, Cole going to Brazil with her father, while she goes on the road with her mother as they flee the FBI.

Named a Best Summer Read by Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, BuzzFeed, Glamour, Bustle, Chicago Review of Books and Newsday Everyone should read it. --Vogue The third novel by an author who's been weaving indelible portraits of race and class in America for nearly two decades could not have arrived at a more apt time...The stakes of Senna's latest triumph are both personal and global and will provide a powerful and necessary echo of our current cultural climate. --Harper's Bazaar You'll gulp Senna's novel in a single sitting-but then mull over it for days. --Entertainment Weekly A striking, off-kilter exploration of race and class. -Huffington Post Danzy Senna's latest stunner of a novel is both political and bingeable, worthy of a one-sitting read --Vulture Shrewd and funny. --Newsday An absolutely brilliant darkly comic wild ride of a novel-it's completely fearless and subversive while at the same time incredibly honest and accurate in how it approaches race and class. --Porochista Khakpour, LitHub A darkly comic page-turner. -Los Angeles Daily News Blazing, unstoppable... a fast, darkly funny read. --BookPage A great read, both compelling and thoughtful. The narrative has a page-turning urgency, as Maria tumbles toward a disaster of her own making. --Library Journal (starred) Senna's fearless novel is equal parts beguiling and disturbing... [she] combines the clued-in status details you'd find in a New York magazine article with the narrative invention of big-league fiction.... Every detail and subplot...is resonant. A great book about race and a great book all around. --Kirkus Reviews (starred) Remarkable. New People plays out like Greek tragedy and social comedy all at once, reminding you that the worst kind of hell is always the one we raise. --Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings New People sparkles with precision, and with antic and merciless hilarity. I was seduced into reading it in one sitting, but will be thinking about it for a long time to come. This book-utterly grave, and yet beautifully light-hearted--is a wonder. --Rachel Kushner, author of The Flame Throwers I stayed up way later than planned to finish New People, Danzy Senna's riveting, take-no-prisoners, dystopic dream of a novel. More scorcher than satire, New People loads identity, race, despair, and desire into a blender then hits high. Get ready to stay up late, to be propelled, pricked, and haunted. --Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts Danzy Senna detonates the bomb between respectability and desire. In hypnotizing prose, New People kicks you in the gut, then sings you a lullaby. Read this and be haunted. Senna is a master. --Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day Praise for Caucasia: Senna's remarkable first novel [will] cling to your memory. . . . [She] tells this coming-of-age tale with impressive beauty and power. -Newsweek Superbly illustrates the emotional toll that politics and race take on one especially gutsy young girl's development as she makes her way through the parallel limbos between black and white and between girl and young woman. . . . Haunting and intelligent. -The New York Times Book Review

"A young college graduate arrives in New York City for a prestigious internship at a respected magazine. By a fateful coincidence, an older coworker knows of an apartment in Brooklyn that has suddenly been vacated by the mysterious Vera Cross. The friendship that evolves from the narrator's feeling of indebtedness to Vera and from the bond created by their hard-to-place identical skin color at first delights them - but gradually and inexorably affects both women's lives in ways they could not have dreamed."--BOOK JACKET

Amid a year of luxury house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles, Jane seizes the opportunity to complete her second novel, an ambitious work her husband calls "mulatto War and Peace." This sabbatical offers her a chance to escape the instability of her past and pursue her dreams. With newfound hope for stability and success, Jane navigates the challenges of creativity and family life, all while living in an idyllic setting that contrasts sharply with her previous experiences.