"Interesting family drama"

African-American Antonia Racine Jackson has kept a secret from her beloved spouse and her cherished two children as well as other family members. Back in the 1950s in New Orleans, her brother Emeril and wealthy white Agnes Marquette had an affair that led to the birthing of a child raised as a white man.

Now years later her secret nephew highly regarded concert pianist Clayton Connor is in Baltimore where Antonia and her family reside. Antonia considers it is time to reveal the truth about her blood ties to Clayton. However, with Emeril dead and Agnes in denial, no one believes Antonia though her words creep inside Clayton's mind as he begins to wonder if it is possible that he is of mixed race. Antonia's revelation causes troubles and doubts in her family and that of Clayton's.

THE COLOR OF FAMILY is an intriguing look at racial relationships inside a deep bi-family drama. The story line starts in the segregated 1950s south, but is at its best in the present day as secrets kept by the two female antagonists (Antonia and Agnes) are being revealed. Though Antonia comes across as mentally unhinged with a rationalization for her actions that fails to consider consequences on others and thus detracts from a powerful character study of race relationships then and now.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 29, 2004

Summary

A proud, strong African-American wife and mother, Antonia Racine Jackson raised two admirable children in Baltimore -- all the while taking silent note of a boy growing into manhood in a vastly different world. Reared in the bosom of wealth and privilege by loving white parents, Clayton Cannon is now a concert pianist, acclaimed and renowned wherever he goes. But for decades, Antonia has guarded a secret born of a clandestine love affair between her now- deceased brother Emeril and lily-white Agnes Marquette in the segregated South of the 1950s. And finally the time has come for Antonia to reveal what she knows in her heart to be true: that Clayton Cannon is her brother's son. But memories cut deep, nothing is truly black-and-white, and blood ties cannot always determine who we are and will be. And by breaking her silence, Antonia is about to disrupt the lives of two families in ways she could never have foreseen, forcing her to confront painful realities about herself and those she most dearly loves.