“In Primary Lessons, Sarah White recounts her childhood years in the 1950s and early 60s, from a brief, idyllic-seeming stay as a very young child with a beloved aunt in Philadelphia, to a return home to South Carolina to live with her siblings and her single mom, who was doing her best to hold the family together. Although the author chafed at the restrictions imposed by the Jim Crow South, she grows close to her mother and comes to understand the tough choices that had been made, but that doesn’t damper the author’s determination to leave those limitations behind and forge her own, more independent path.”—Amy Nathan, author of Round and Round Together, and Take a Seat—Make a Stand
“I first met Sarah Bracey White when she shared a portrait of her enterprising, entrepreneurial Aunt Susie. Though Susie shows up again in Primary Lessons, it is Saran’s voice that pulls the reader in. It’s also the story of the author’s legacy, so enriched by her aunt and her indomitable mom who, because of their flair and despite their flaws, imparted wisdom and dispensed love that helped Sarah become the amazing person revealed in this warm-hearted, truth-telling life journey.”—Ingrid Sturgis, author of Aunties: 35 Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother