âPassionate, personal, insightful, testy, and unique.â âKirkus (starred review)
""Verdelle offers us testimony in praise and consideration of life as a literary citizen and Black woman alongside the guiding light of Toni Morrison. This is a holy testimony, indeed, one that deserves to be amen'd forever.â âJason Reynolds, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
""Verdelle gives us the greatest giftâour beloved ancestor returned to usâgenerous and alive, remembered and revered. So grateful for this book in the world.â âJacqueline Woodson, author of Another Brooklyn
""If you let a black girl loose in a library, you may not recognize the woman who emerges.""
âfrom Miss Chloe
Toni Morrison, born Chloe A Wofford, was a towering figure in the world of literature when she entered A.J. Verdelleâs life. Their literary friendship was a young writerâs dreamâsimultaneously exhilarating, intimidating, fulfilling, and challenging. The relationship crossed generations, spanned several cycles in life, exhibited high and low notes, reached and dipped and found its way. Like many women friends, these two writers imagined and built a relationship that was responsive, inventive, and engaged.
Miss Chloe powerfully situates the risks writers face and the freedom they find when they put Black womenâs lives into words. Verdelle chronicles her grief at Morrisonâs passing, and finds comfort in Morrisonâs astute adviceâwisdom Verdelle didnât always recognize at the time. In this pensive and intricately lyrical book, Verdelle honors Morrison among the cultural greats, while illuminating and celebrating the power of language, legacy, and genius.
A. J. Verdelle is the award-winning author of the novel, The Good Negress. She teaches Creative Writing at Morgan State University and at the MFA program at Lesley University.