Libertie: A Times Book of the Month and Roxane Gay's Book Club May Pick

A Times Book of the MonthMay 2021 Book of the Month for Roxane Gay' s Book Club'A feat of monumental thematic imagination'- The New York TimesComing of age as a free-born Black girl in Brooklyn after the Civil War, Libertie Sampson was all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, had a vision for their future together: Libertie would go to medical school and practice alongside her.

But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother' s choices and is hungry for something else - is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark.