When her daughter goes missing in the antebellum South, Perpetua, an enslaved Black woman refuses to give up hope that she will find her, despite being stonewalled, and even punished, by those who can help find her.
In sharp, magnetic prose and poetry, Leslie T. Grover explores what it means to be a mother and what it means to be human in a world that will treat you as less.
Praise for The Benefits of Eating White Folks
“Leslie T. Grover’s novella The Benefits of Eating White Folks is a kind of DNA strand, weaving multiple genres and a sense of the past as it is intertwined with the present. Grover is a bold, unflinching writer, and her chilling book will help us all face ourselves and reckon with our long, dark history.” —Nellie Hermann, author of The Season of Migration
“The Benefits of Eating White Folks is a viscerally rich work that intensifies with the turn of each page. Leslie T. Grover deftly blends poetry, art, and prose to illustrate the full scope of horrors and hard truths faced by Black communities from slavery to the present day. This book hits and never misses–an instant classic that’s so engrossing, it’s impossible to put down.” —Lyndsey Ellis, author of Bone Broth
“An exquisite dance of prose, poetry, and visual art, this book manages to distill the bitter realities of being enslaved into potent medicine. Through brilliant prose and verse, Grover paints a vivid picture of Black women’s indomitable resilience in the face of unimaginable injustice.” —Ari Honarvar, author of A Girl Called Rumi
Devan R. –
To say that this is a brutal yet heartwarming read is probably an understatement. It is brutal in its honesty to the point that it might be painful to read, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be read. I read it in its entirety in one evening. The unrelenting love for a child by a mother shines through the darkness until the bitter end, which is probably why it is such a page-turner.