Dark Secret.

Dark Secret by Elizabeth Atkins Bowman Forge, July 2000, $25.95 ISBN 0-312-86806-5

In the beginning, I wrestled to understand Elizabeth Atkins Bowman's multifaceted racial thriller. I was puzzled by the alternating structure of the chapters and felt as though I were reading two separate books. In many ways, I was. One chapter speaks of Sharlene Bradley, a bi-racial child, growing up with her sister and African American mother, nestled in a cradle of poverty. The next chapter engages the reader in the life of Camille Morgan.

Camille, nee Sharlene Bradley, is living her life under the burden of a heavy secret. Passing for white, she has worked to become a successful lawyer, and is engaged to a prestigious Southern white man with an illustrious family history. The alternating chapters act as an apt metaphor for Camille's double life.

Bowman's novel starts off slowly but, like a good tea set to steep, becomes richer and more full-bodied as you read. The reentry of Camille's sister Karen, who is proud of her African heritage, into Camille's life when their mother needs them both desperately, threatens to unravel the thick tangle of lies around which she has built her life. Camille's own demons come to the fore when she least expects them, as she tries to integrate herself into her fiance's aristocratic southern life, full of centuries-old plantations and a deep seated racial history.

The reader bears witness to a young woman's struggle to run away from herself and her history and begin anew on her own terms, only to be faced at every turn with reminders of her true identity. Bowman manages to take stereotypical tragic mulatta mythology and turn it on its head with a modern story of personal conflict and family ties.

Ava Williams is a graduate student at Pace University and a freelance writer.