"Inez was born in 1918 - looking white without being white. A light-skinned daughter of the Deep South, she grew up determined not to let Jim Crow put limits on her happiness. So she embraced her contradictions and decided to make a different life for herself and her family.".

"Now, decades later, her son, critically acclaimed poet and novelist Clarence Major, tells her story. Starting with his own childhood awakening to the realization that his mother could pass for white, Major reaches back to paint a brilliant portrait of a woman on intimate terms with mysteries, secrets, and her own truth.".

"Escaping an abusive marriage, Inez would flee to Chicago, the city that became a symbol of her dilemmas as well as of her liberation. To survive, she had to leave her young children behind in the shadow of her past and under the color line. Passing as white, she would embark audaciously on a double life to earn a decent salary. To overcome every obstacle to her happiness, she would have to risk everything she loved and, finally, embrace herself."--BOOK JACKET.