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'Gorgeously
written with a fiercely honest voice. Williams will
grow up [to become] Precious, "the writer, the grown woman..." How she
gets there is a serpentine road that's as shatteringly moving as it is
incredible.' THE
BOSTON GLOBE
'Astonishingly, there is little bitterness here: Williams's writing is accomplished - pacey yet carefully spare, so that sadness and anger hover over her narrative rather than suffocate it. Such is the vividness of her characters and dialogue that, having unburdened herself, Williams now might choose - with the promise of some success - to turn her back on her day job as a journalist and find a powerful new voice by making the leap into fiction.' THE SUNDAY TIMES
'Williams offers an English journalist's wry, charming memoir of being a black Nigerian girl growing up in a 1970s white foster home...Her beautifully wrought memoir reaches back deeply and generously to regain the preciousness she felt lost to her.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'Precious
Williams' brave examination of identity and loss reminds us that by
going into the heart of what we are most afraid of, we find our
liberation.'
EVE ENSLER, creator of the Vagina Monologues
'Alternately
alarming and funny. Always spare and beautifully crafted.'
DENISE MINA, author of 'The Dead Hour'
'A
powerful and arresting memoir...'
THE BOOKSELLER
'An
affecting memoir about growing up in two worlds, neither quite
comfortable with the other.....the story moves along towards a
satisfying conclusion that speaks of aspiration and desire. Well
done.'
KIRKUS REVIEWS
'Recounts
how this London-born daughter of a Nigerian princess came to be
raised by an elderly white woman on an English housing project.'
ELLE MAGAZINE (US) "Recommended Read" for August 2010
