Fruits of My Solitude

How does a biracial child of the 50's cope in the hostile black community in which she lives and the unaccepting white world she can't avoid? How does she survive the problematic adoption by a biracial, middle-aged couple whose marriage is crumbling? Integrated couples were not allowed to adopt in the 1950's and the unusual means by which this child was acquired will be sure to arrest your complete attention! Before the Civil Rights Era, the angst between the races was a solidly entrenched social evil much more volatile than this present day and the only thing that either race hated more than each other was the product of the occasional racial treason; a mixed child. When you are relegated to the outskirts of society and lack meaningful connections of family, friends, or community, how do you abolish bitterness and expand your solitude into dimensions of peace, beauty, and productivity? At age sixteen a marriage enforced by parents would involve a move to a strange, new city where frequent mental and physical violence would become daily realities at the hands of a deeply troubled man engulfed in the world of drugs. Widowed by tragedy at age twenty-one, the depths of solitude had been plumbed. How do you maintain warm, human hope in a cold world? Solitude...the inward frontier. Welcome to my world!