Mother of Pearl
This first novel by a 44-year-old preacher`s daughter is a small-town tale set in the 1950s. The story revolves around the friendship between Even Grade (named for a road), a young orphaned black man who knows nothing about his background, and a teenage white girl named Valuable Korner (named after a real estate sign), daughter of the town prostitute, who wishes she could escape hers.

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