Miss Chloe

September 1, 2021

The only short story Nobel laureate Morrison ever wrote, "Recitatif" concerns Twyla and Roberta, friends in childhood, who lost touch as adults but keep encountering each other at places like a grocery store, a diner, and a protest march. One is white, one is black, but readers don't know which is which, Morrison having aimed to craft "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." Bearing an introduction by Zadie Smith, this is the story's first-time appearance as a stand-alone. When Verdelle published the Good Negress in 1995, she won early praise from Morrison. The novel went on to claim the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award and PEN/Faulkner finalist honors, but Verdelle's next novel--a Western featuring Black characters--has languished. Nevertheless, the novel led to a friendship with Morrison, detailed here along with Verdelle's early struggles to write and thoughts on what it means to be considered a writer with promise, still struggling. Originally scheduled for September 2021.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2022
A writer by definition engages in eternal self-reinvention; a literary genius sparks that reinvention in others. Chloe Wofford recreated herself as the literary titan Toni Morrison, and as Verdelle (The Good Negress, 1995) demonstrates, became the catalyst for a generation. "I have seen folk take definite action, in their own best interest, as a result of a Toni Morrison book," writes Verdelle, who developed a worshipful, decades-long literary friendship with Morrison, whom she valued as a mentor. Yet there remained a distance between them. "She did not want to 'help me' with my writing . . . She wanted me to deploy my own agency."" Morrison abruptly told a gushing would-be writer, "Well it sounds like you don't know what you're doing." While Morrison did not suffer fools, she did celebrate Black courage and artistry with every shimmering word. Verdelle captures Morrison's appreciation for Black female labor in a loving tribute to baking yeast rolls--a lengthy, intricate ritual that nourishes and connects generations and is a tangible embodiment of Black family strength. Verdelle has created a remarkable literary portrait and memoir.

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Starred review from May 1, 2022

Upon the publication of her first novel, The Good Negress, Verdelle earned the coveted praise of one of her literary role models, award-winning author Toni Morrison. Their eventual friendship is used as a lens to present Verdelle's life and reflections in this vivid memoir. Verdelle tells of her journey beginning with her book-loving childhood, when she first read Morrison's works, to becoming a published author and professor of creative writing. With similar career paths and shared lived experiences, Verdelle's multifaceted friendship with Morrison was deeply influential on her life. Morrison became a source of wisdom, guidance, and sometimes frustration, with their friendship ebbing and flowing for decades until Morrison's passing in 2019. Verdelle also reflects on the power and interconnection of language and race, offering readers a celebration of not only Morrison's works but the power of literature for voices long oppressed. VERDICT Verdelle's stunningly precise and poetic language is a joy to savor. Morrison fans will delight in revisiting her works through Verdelle's eyes and meeting the enigmatic writer in an intimate way.--Anitra Gates

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2022
The joys, challenges, and lasting lessons of a friendship with Chloe Ardelia Wofford, aka Toni Morrison. "When I met Toni Morrison in person, I had been her reader and her cheerleader for dozens of years," writes Verdelle. What followed was more than two decades of friendship and hero worship, including delights and resentments big and small (the author is still wondering why Morrison had to steal her favorite scarf), along with "two and a half spats" dished in detail. Morrison may have been a diva in many ways, but Verdelle couldn't have met her under more auspicious circumstances. In 1997, after she received a copy of Verdelle's first (and only) published novel, The Good Negress, Morrison sent back an unsolicited appreciation, almost unheard of. She went on to get the younger author invited to teach at Princeton, where she herself was ensconced alongside Black luminaries like Cornel West, Nell Painter, and Yusef Komunyakaa. Princeton was a mixed bag for Verdelle, who was ultimately repulsed by the overwhelming privilege on display. (She now teaches at Morgan State, a historically Black college in Baltimore.) Verdelle writes forcefully about the individual novels and about Morrison's achievement as a whole. "Relentlessly stripping the hegemonic gaze," she writes, "Morrison made us and our human complexities so visible, in language so eloquent and deep, that the whole of world literature could not deny her innovation and brilliance." Elsewhere, she writes, "Morrison is to literature as James Brown is to popular culture"--the essence of Black and proud. The book is too long in the way of a phone conversation where the other person keeps thinking of one more thing they have to tell you, but luckily enough, that turns out to be interesting, as well. Verdelle is not afraid to grind an ax if necessary, and the one involving the failure of her second novel to see print is sharp indeed. Maybe something can be done about that. Passionate, personal, insightful, testy, and unique.

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