Author of
The Other Mother (Counterpoint, 2022)
This Side of Providence (Prospect Park Books, 2016)
Brass Ankle Blues, (Touchstone, 2006)
Rachel M. Harper is the author of three novels: THE OTHER MOTHER, winner of the Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Award for Fiction, Ferro-Grumley Award finalist, a Time Best Book of the Month,and a Book Riot Best Book of 2022; THIS SIDE OF PROVIDENCE, shortlisted for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence; and BRASS ANKLE BLUES, a Borders’ Original Voices Award finalist and Target Breakout Book. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has been widely published and anthologized. Harper has received fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell, and is on the faculty at Spalding University’s Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. She lives in Los Angeles.
Rachel M. Harper
Books by Rachel
The Other Mother (Counterpoint, 2022)
Rachel Harper’s third novel The Other Mother is set on an Ivy League campus and tells the story of a young, gifted pianist searching for answers about his late famous father—only to be confronted by the layers of secrets and lies constructed by his family in order to protect him from the truth of his origin story, and the other mother he never knew he had. A propulsive and moving family drama that offers a nuanced exploration of race, class, queerness, and the complicated love between parents and children.
“Extraordinary . . . This book breaks new ground.” —Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple
"Riveting . . . Harper skillfully layers the narrative with accounts from the various characters’ points of view, capturing palpable emotions and the fissures running through their fraught relations, all the while handling themes of motherhood, race, and sexuality with aplomb. This adds up to a heartrending story." —Publishers Weekly
"A sprawling, multigenerational portrait of a mixed-race family that begins with a man's quest to uncover the truth of his origins . . . Harper has created a novel about longing, loss, kinship, talent, queerness, and what makes a family . . . A novel about the families we inherit and the ones we make for ourselves." —Kirkus Reviews
"Gripping." —Angela Haupt, A Time Best Book of the Month
"[The Other Mother is] full of characters who are raucous in their humanness: striving, hurting, loving. I wanted to read about them forever—and I can’t wait to revisit them, because this one is going straight to the top of the reread list." —Laura Sackton, A Book Riot Best Book Of The Year
PRAISE
This Side of Providence (Prospect Park Books, 2016)
29-year-old Arcelia Perez—mother, addict, survivor—fled Puerto Rico to escape a failed marriage and a history of abuse, but instead of claiming her piece of the American dream, she ends up on the wrong side of the tracks in Providence, RI. Alone and with three young children, Arcelia follows an unconventional path that ultimately leads to prison and an agonizing drug withdrawal. But her real challenge comes when she's released and must figure out how to stay clean and reunite the family that has unraveled in her absence.
Through rotating narrators, we hear from the characters whose lives and futures are inextricably linked with Arcelia's own uncertain fate: her charming, street-savvy son, Cristo, and brilliant daughter Luz; their idealistic teacher, Miss Valentín, who battles her own demons; and the enigmatic Snowman, her landlord and confidante.
This powerful story of hope and redemption reveals the un- acknowledged side of one of our oldest American cities, where even the bleakest of realities can't destroy the bonds between parent and child. Rich in humanity, This Side of Providence is a novel of exceptional force and originality.
"It is a book of such power that it is as if a completely new layer of the American experience has been exposed to our view. And like many a great works of fiction, not one line is wasted and every single word rings true."
―Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Color Purple
"So beautifully written and incredibly compelling that I found myself not wanting to do anything but sit inside this world until everyone turned out all right. Rachel Harper is a stunning writer.”
―Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Miracle’s Boys
"A truly remarkable novel. Rachel Harper writes with jagged grace and unflinching courage―a willingness to confront fear and pain through characters beautifully alive with feeling, truth, and compassion."
―Scott O'Connor, author of Half World and Untouchable
"Here is a novel that can save lives... I'll never forget these characters, or this novel."
― Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife, Four Spirits, and The Fountain of St. James Court, or Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman
"An ambitious, beautifully written, heartfelt novel that demonstrates the centrality of family under the most arduous of conditions.”
―Jervey Tervalon, author of Understand This and Monster's Chef
"With deep empathy and intellect, Harper paints a universal story of honest, imperfect love and hard-won family. This gorgeous book balances the gritty with the good-hearted, reminding us that only what is dark and difficult can give rise to redemption.”
—Neela Vaswani, author of You Have Given Me a Country
"Harper's great achievement is that of choirmaster: the arrangement of timbre and pace and keeping the voices honest and clear, and somehow pitched toward love."
― Justin Torres, author of We the Animals
"A stunning achievement―I did not want this novel to end, but when it did, I felt a rush of cathartic joy.”
― K. L. Cook, author of The Girl from Charnelle and Love Songs for the Quarantined
“Luminous, heartbreaking, and profoundly redemptive... a hauntingly beautiful novel about the unbreakable bonds between a wounded mother and the children she tries to love."
― Rebecca Walker, author of Áde, A Love Story
PRAISE
Brass Ankle Blues, (Touchstone, 2006)
“When I was seven, I told my father that I wanted to grow up to be invisible."
So begins this remarkable coming-of-age novel about identity, loss, and forgiveness. Brass Ankle Blues tells the story of Nellie Kincaid, a 15-year-old biracial girl struggling to accept her parents’ impeding divorce while navigating the excitement of first love, the challenges of her mixed-race identity, and the secrets that threaten to divide her family forever—set against the background of an idyllic midwestern summer, likely the last Nellie and her family will ever share.
“Brass Ankle Blues is a beautiful debut…full of humanity and elusive shocks of recognition. It gracefully explores the fissures and possibilities that all young selves experience. This is a marvelous novel.”
—Providence Journal
“Rachel Harper’s fierce debut is a tender, passionate, and moving read. A clear window onto a world rarely seen in contemporary fiction.”
—Shay Youngblood, author of Soul Kiss
“I am very impressed by this first novel. She has an excellent eye for the most minute details. I hope many people will get a chance to read this book.”
—Ernest J. Gaines, author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying
“I enjoyed reading this remarkable first novel… intelligent, eloquent, lyrical—all the elements of fine writing.”
— Gayl Jones, author of Corregidora and The Healing
“With a deftness of touch that can arise only from hard-won wisdom, Brass Ankle Blues transfigures the journey from innocence to experience in pure lyric tenderness. This is an extraordinary novel.” — Ronald A. Sharp, Former Editor, The Kenyon Review
“Rachel M. Harper’s fine novel is told with a discerning eye for detail and wry humor.”
— Curtis Harnack, author of We Have All Gone Away and Love and Be Silent
"(T)he classic narrative of the transformative summer cries out for a contemporary heroine like Nellie, and the family tensions, poignant discoveries, and richly evoked setting should help this find a broad audience."
―Jennifer Mattson, Booklist