The Darkest Child

"Evil's regenerative powers and one girl's fierce resistance. . . . A book that deserves a wide audience."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Filled with grand plot events and clearly identifiable villains and victims . . . lush with detail and captivating with its story of racial tension and family violence."--The Washington Post Book World "[An] exceptional debut novel. . . . [Has] a depth and dimension not often characteristic of a first novel."--Library Journal (starred) "Phillips writes with a no-nonsense elegance. . . . As a vision of African-American life, The Darkest Child is one of the harshest novels to arrive in many years. . . . [Phillips] buttresses those harsh episodes with a depth of characterization worthy of Chekhov, pitch-perfect dialogue, and a profound knowledge of the segregated South in the '50s."--The New Leader Rozelle Quinn is so fair-skinned that she can pass for white. Her ten children...