Notes on Her Colour
Harper’s Bazaar, A Best Book of 2023
One of Electric Literature‘s Books by Women of Colour to Read This Year
Debutiful, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
Goodreads, A Buzziest Debut Novel of the Year
‘A vibrant story of self-actualization . . . Riveting . . . A sweeping story of family, community, coming of age, trauma, mental illness, and the life-giving power of art.’ – Sarah Neilson, Shondaland
‘Notes on Her Color is not only a debut novel by Jennifer Neal, but also a musical composition. Each word is a note carefully considered before being etched onto the page with the hope of bringing art to life and feelings to the surface.’ – Aaron Coats, Chicago Review of Books
Gabrielle has inherited the ability to change the colour of her skin from her mother, Tallulah. They guard their power carefully within the walls of a home that's been bleached completely white. This is the doing of Gabrielle's father, Robert. After battling his executive-level colleagues all day at the office as a man of colour, he needs everything in his house to be white – including his wife and daughter.
This is a house with secrets. Robert does not know that Talullah keeps a rainbow of spices stored in baggies and sewn into the lining of her handbag. Nor does he know that when he's away, Gabrielle and Tallulah let their skin pass through a spectrum of bright, dark, rebellious colours. But when Gabrielle discovers a love for the piano, she also finds she can change her skin, and find joy and acceptance, without her mother nearby. Gabrielle is learning of a world beyond her family's carefully coded existence, and her mother is watching.
Notes on Her Colour is a novel where the strange and surreal meets the kitsch of Florida as it explores the dynamic of a family traumatised by racial violence in North America. It’s a glittering, corrosive, witty tale about race, privilege, music and queerness.
At its heart, it's a story about a mother, told by her daughter.
Jennifer Neal is an American and Australian author, journalist, musician, visual artist, and occasional standup comedian who has lived all over the world, but is based in Berlin (for now). Her work has appeared in The Cut, NPR, CNN, The Establishment, Gay Magazine, Atlas Obscura, The Willowherb Review, The Wellcome Trust, and Playboy, among many others. She has made TV appearances for CNN, which saw her dispatched to Southeast Asia by the late (great) Anthony Bourdain, and Deutsche Welle—for which she is a freelance producer and translator. Her piece ‘In Search of Better Skies’ was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2019, and she is a 2021 MacDowell Fellow.