On the Outskirts of Normal
Forging a Family Against the Grain

In this memoir by Flannery O’Connor Award winner Debra Monroe, the soon-to-be divorced Debra buys a dilapidated Texas cabin miles from her teaching job. While waiting to adopt a child, she refurbishes and expands the rude dwelling. She soon finds herself in the strange new WD of single motherhood, complicated by her being white and her adopted daughter being black.