Thanks to NetGalley for granting me early access to this in exchange for my honest thoughts. The Other Black Girl was not quite what I expected, but it is definitely a book I’d recommend.
Nella, our main character, works at an established publishing company in New York. She dreams of becoming an editor and would love to see her boss do more to represent the voices of black Americans. But two years after starting at Wagner she remains on the periphery of events, and little seems to be changing in her white world of publishing.
When Hazel joins the company, Nella is thrilled to learn she is black…and imagines a more racially enlightened working environment. What happens is far from the picture Nella had in mind.
From the outset Hazel seems to settle into the company. She makes friends easily and her opinions are sought by those who’ve overlooked Nella in the past. Hazel is confident, proud of her black background and keen for others to know about it…in some ways the very opposite of Nella, who has had a very different upbringing.
For a substantial part of the book it felt like a case of someone who’d become complacent in their environment resenting a new face stirring things up a little. When Nella starts to receive anonymous notes suggesting she leave the company and is in danger, she starts to second-guess Hazel and is convinced she’s a target of racial abuse.
Once we shifted into this arena, there was more of a thriller feel to the book. It was obvious something odd was happening, that someone knew about it and that Nella was in the middle of something explosive. When we finally learned what it was, I was rather taken aback – wondering if that could really happen – and whether Nella would stand up for what she believed to be right, or whether she’d maintain the facade and become complicit in perpetuating what many might want to challenge but don’t see the need to rock the boat.