Not Quite White

Laila Woozeer

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781471184208
• eBook ISBN: 9781471184192

This is a story of belonging and not belonging, of not knowing if you exist and making sure that you do. This story is for ancestors and descendants, for the people without roles or representation who find themselves placed in a random mixed-up race. This is a story about time travel and tigers, of mountains and moons, and what happens when you sew a thread that was split in two. Reliving defining memories from early childhood in the 1990s to the present day, Laila Woozeer engages with the divisive patterns of racism and prejudice and their cumulative effect on a single life. Using the healing stream of connection – with personal and family history, friends, nature and imagination – and the act of creation, Laila illustrates the way a self was forged. Between past lives and personhood, and from colonialism to creativity, this is a vivid, lyrical account of identity, endurance, courage, growth and artistry. In Not Quite White you are invited to follow the journey of somebody trying desperately to understand who they are, how to survive, and what it might mean to thrive.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• A Note to the Reader
• Prologue: Two Moons’ Time
• Chapter One: Princess Jasmine was the Only One in Trousers
• Chapter Two: Last of the Dragon’s Blood
• Chapter Three: We Throw the Burned Ones Out
• Chapter Four: Mum Never had a Moustache
• Chapter Five: Remembering Pluto
• Chapter Six: Across From Ghosts
• Chapter Seven: Now Collecting All the Colours on the Canvas
• Chapter Eight: Everywhere Birds
• Chapter Nine: The Tree that Blooms the Whole Year Through
• Chapter Ten: A Ceaseless Sequence of Stars
• Epilogue: For Fur
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright