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A Novel
by Natalie Baszile
From the author of Queen Sugar, a piercing examination of friendship and loyalty as two best friends find themselves at odds over their beliefs on race, identity and allyship, especially when it comes to their teenage children.
Babs and Nora became friends thanks to their kids. Now, the desire to protect their children might tear them apart.
Babs and Nora have spent a decade's worth of morning walks sharing family secrets, local drama, and advice—everything from tips on lingerie choices to Babs's suggestions to Nora, a white woman, on how to raise Nathan, her adopted Black son.
But their worlds are turned upside down when the cops are called on their kids while they're home alone, leading to a traumatic police encounter for Nathan. In the aftermath, Babs and Nora find themselves divided as never before, and Nathan looks for refuge with Babs and her family, where, unlike in his own home, race, identity, and culture are always up for discussion. Babs can see that Nathan is a young Black man without community trying to find himself. Torn between respecting Nora's boundaries and embodying the values so important to her own family, Babs will make a choice that will shape their lives forever.
Set in a tight-knit enclave in the Bay Area, Friends and Family is an eye-opening exploration of friendship and privilege, race and community, and what it means to truly be a good friend and ally.
"Tenderness meets tough love in this page-turning story of two friends—one black, one white—who face life-altering choices as a crisis threatens to divide them. This story explores identity, privilege, friendship, and family in an upscale San Francisco setting, but it mines those gray areas that can be found in relationships everywhere. A compelling reminder that it's one thing to be loved, another to feel seen." —Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake and Good Dirt
"Natalie Baszile lays out the intricacies of prejudice and forgiveness with clarity and empathy. As her protagonists confront the limits of their understanding of race, motherhood, and each other, Baszile explores how we might find grace in today's turbulent world. This is exactly the kind of book I want to read right now, from a sure voice we know and love." —Katie Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Girls and Trucks and Embassy Wife
This information about Friends and Family 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.
Natalie Baszile is a writer and filmmaker. Her debut novel, Queen Sugar, was named a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle, an NAACP Image Award nominee, and was the inspiration for the acclaimed television series co-produced by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. Her non-fiction book, We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land & Legacy was a Wall Street Journal Book of the Year. Natalie's non-fiction work has appeared in National Geographic, O, The Oprah Magazine,The Bitter Southerner, and numerous anthologies. Natalie has had residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, Virginia Center for the Arts, Hedgebrook, SFFILM and the Djerassi Resident Arts Program. Her short film "Black Girl in Paris" premiered at the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival. A native Californian, Natalie's southern roots stem from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama. She lives in the Bay Area.
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