The Changelings

First published in 1955 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this novel revolves around a pair of stubborn adolescent girls who refuse to accept the racism and anti-Semitism of their respective communities. Their courage allows them to question and to cross over into the no-mans land of segregated urban neighborhoods, claimed most recently by Jews, but now, in the early fifties, increasingly by African-Americans. The New York Times praised the power with which the author reveals the impact of [racial] struggle on the new generation, whose survival lies in their power to love.