Training School for Negro Girls

Camille Acker

eBook - 2018

"The lives of the girls and women featured in these stories are rendered with tremendous warmth, humor, and care . . . a wonderful debut." —Jamel Brinkley, author of A Lucky ManIn her debut short story collection, Camille Acker unleashes the irony and tragic comedy of respectability onto a wide-ranging cast of characters, all of whom call Washington, DC, home. A "woke" millennial tries to fight gentrification, only to learn she's part of the problem; a grade school teacher dreams of a better DC, only to take out her frustrations on her students; and a young piano player wins a competition, only to learn the prize is worthless.Ultimately, they are confronted with the fact that respectability does not equal freedom.... Instead, they must learn to trust their own conflicted judgment and fight to create their own sense of space and self."An exciting literary achievement by a significant emerging talent. This flawlessly executed work reinvigorates the... more