Daddy Was a Number Runner / Edition 1

by Louise Meriwether, James Baldwin

Overview

This modern classic is “a tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood” in 1930s Harlem—with a foreword by James Baldwin (Publishers Weekly).

Depression-era Harlem is home for twelve-year-old Francie Coffin and her family, and it’s both a place of refuge and the source of untold dangers for her and her poor, working class family. The beloved “daddy” of the title indeed becomes a number runner when he is unable to find legal work, and while one of Francie’s brothers dreams of becoming a chemist, the other is already in a gang. Francie is a dreamer, too, but there are risks in everything from going to the movies to walking down the block, and her pragmatism eventually outweighs her hope; “We was all poor and black and apt to stay that way, and that was that.”

First published in 1970, Daddy Was a Number Runner is one of the seminal novels of the black experience in America. The New York Times Book Review proclaimed it “a most important novel.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558614420
Publisher:	Feminist Press at CUNY, The
Publication date:	12/01/2002
Series:	Contemporary Classics by Women
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	151,956
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

Editorial Reviews

"The novel’s greatest achievement lies in the strong sense of black life that it conveys: the vitality and force behind the despair. It celebrates the positive values of the black experience: the tenderness and love that often underlie the abrasive surface of relationships . . . the humor that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk. . . . A most important novel."
—Paule Marshall, The New York Times Book Review

"Daddy Was a Number Runner is not sugar-coated or show. It is truth lived in the vernacular—a Black girl's humor and empathy as she comes to understand Harlem's dreams and tragedies . . . from inside out. Louise Meriwether's voice is the Black feminist novelist's equivalent of the Blues. If you like modern classics by Naylor, Morrison, and Marshall, you will love this. . . . You will not be able to put it down or forget Francie, one of my all-time favorite characters."
—Mary Libertin, Belles Lettres

"A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

The novel's greatest achievement lies in the sense of black life that it conveys: vitality and force behind the despair. It celebrates the positive values behind the black experience: the tenderness and love that often lie underneath the abrasive surfaces of relationships...the humor that has long been an important part of the black survival kit, and the heroism of ordinary folk...a most important novel. -- The New York Times Book Review

Paule Marshall

Daddy was a Number Runner is not sugar-coated or show. It is truth lived in the vernacular -- a black girl's humor and empathy as she comes to understand Harlem's dreams and tragedy...from inside out. Louise Meriwether's voice is the black feminist novel's equivalent of the blues. If you like the modern classics like Mailer, Morrison, Marshall, you will love this...you will not be able to put it down or forget Francie, one of my all-time favorite characters. --Belles Lettres

Libertin