Excerpt from Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Yes, ma'am."

"We have been sanctioned by the federal government to execute our duties. We must take our mission very seriously. A wheel cannot work without its spokes. We are the spokes of that wheel."

Alicia was right. The woman's hair didn't budge.

"What I'm saying to you, Civil, is that you are a smart girl. It's why I hired you. I have high expectations of you because I think you'll make a fine nurse someday. I don't want you to go getting ideas."

She had just paid me a compliment, but it sounded strange in my ears. "Ideas about what, ma'am?"

She frowned and, for a moment, I worried that my tone had slipped into insolence. "About your place in all this. You have to work together with your fellow nurses. Our mission is to help poor people who cannot help themselves."

"Yes, ma'am." I sat quietly, digesting her words. My daddy had made sure that I was educated not only in my books but also, as he had once described it, in the code that dictated our lives in Alabama. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut. Picking your battles. Letting them think what they wanted because you weren't going to change their minds about certain things. It was a tough lesson, but I'd heeded it well enough to get some of the things I wanted out of life. Like this job, for instance. The woman is just trying to pay you a compliment, Civil. Show her you can gracefully accept it.

Excerpted from Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Copyright © 2022 by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.