Invisible Boy
A Memoir of Self-Discovery
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
WINNER – 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writers Prizes for Nonfiction
FINALIST – Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction
FINALIST – Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction
A narrative that amplifies a voice rarely heard—that of the child at the centre of a transracial adoption—and a searing account of being raised by religious fundamentalists
Harrison Mooney was born to a West African mother and adopted as an infant by a white evangelical family. Growing up as a Black child, Harry’s racial identity is mocked and derided, while at the same time he is made to participate in the fervour of his family’s revivalist church. Confused and crushed by fundamentalist dogma and consistently abused for his colour, Harry must transition from child to young adult while navigating and surviving zealotry, paranoia and prejudice.
After years of internalized anti-Blackness, Harry begins to redefine his terms and reconsider his history. His journey from white cult to Black consciousness culminates in a moving reunion with his biological mother, who waited twenty-five years for the chance to tell her son the truth: she wanted to keep him.
This powerful memoir considers the controversial practice of transracial adoption from the perspective of families that are torn apart and children who are stripped of their culture, all in order to fill evangelical communities’ demand for babies. Throughout this most timely tale of race, religion and displacement, Harrison Mooney’s wry, evocative prose renders his deeply personal tale of identity accessible and light, giving us a Black coming-of-age narrative set in a world with little love for Black children.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Canadian journalist Harrison Mooney’s engrossing memoir is a heartfelt story of survival. Born to a Black teen mother and adopted into a white conservative Christian family, Mooney grew up as the only Black person in a deeply religious evangelical community in Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia. Homeschooled in a fundamentalist atmosphere, he was told that his race and heritage had no importance. Despite his yearning to be fully accepted and at home in his community, racially charged incidents at school, in public, and even in church were common—and were routinely dismissed or ignored. This is a heartfelt story of personal discovery that takes an eye-opening turn when a teenage Harrison travels across the United States to a Florida college and for the first time comes face-to-face with what it’s like to be around other Black people. Fans of personal memoirs like Tara Westover’s Educated and Georgina Lawton’s Raceless will find this a must-read.
