Twelfth & Race
University of Nebraska Press, 2012
Part of the prestigious literary series, Flyover Fiction.

Life takes a strange turn when Richard Allan Gordon, thirty years old and as white as they come, discovers that, as a result of identity theft, five-year-old Jada Reece Gordon bears his name. The product of a middle-class Jewish upbringing, Richie finds himself completely in love and lust with Jada's mother, LaTisha, a twenty-five-year-old African American nursing student, and longs to be a father to her child.

​Richie and LaTisha's story takes place at the intersection of love, race, and identity, as the couple is forced to examine their relationship in light of a terrible event that takes the life of a young black father and catapults their midwestern city into chaos. As riots erupt around them and Richie discovers a secret about his own past that challenges his long-held ideas, he and LaTisha must come to grips with the forces that threaten to tear their relationship apart. A novel that doesn't shy away from the racism that dwells within the unexamined hearts of so many Americans, Twelfth and Race may shock or outrage some readers, yet its story is ultimately timely, honest, and hopeful.
REVIEWS
“Eric Goodman brilliantly dramatizes the complex workings of the skin game in our supposedly ‘post-racial’ America. . . . This is fiction at its best, prose that touches, prose that asks us to think more about who we are, that demands that we be more than we are. A significant achievement.”—Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Rails under My Back
“A wonderful puzzle, leaving us wondering who has stolen whose identity. There’s an amazing amount of wit, soul, candor, and erotic and intoxicating energy in this deeply probing and suspenseful novel. An amazingly and gloriously fulfilling read.”—Josip Novakovich, author of April Fool’s Day and Salvation and Other Disasters
"Goodman's writing is raw and honest, with a deep and evident appreciation of some fairly sensitive themes. Readers who have enjoyed the work of Mark Perry, Rebecca Walker, and Gary Nash should appreciate this passionate, complex, and insightful novel."—Stephanie Turza, Booklist
"[Twelfth and Race] is a fascinating new novel about the intersection of neighborhoods, but also of cultures, races–and, above all, of seemingly unconnected people whose lives intersect in unexpected ways."--Jewniverse
"Eric Goodman isn't afraid to examine the racism that still exists in present-day America through his book, Twelfth and Race. A unique discussion about race and identity is wrapped in a powerful love story, allowing the reader to feel more passionately about the issue of racism as they sympathize with the characters."—Kelsey Hansen, Deseret News
PRESS ON TWELFTH & RACE
- Live reading and interview on Live from Prairie Lights on radio WSUI, Iowa City, Iowa (2012)
- Review in the The Philadelphia Inquirer (2012)
- Review in the Deseret News (2012)
- Review and interview in Cincinnati Enquirer (2012)
ERIC GOODMAN
Eric Goodman is the author of novelist, journalist and book doctor. Author of six novels, teacher at the Iowa Summer Writing Professor, and retired professor of English at Miami University.
​NOVELS
Curveball
Cuppy & Stew
Twelfth & Race
Child of My Right Hand
In Days of Awe
The First Time I Saw Jenny Hall
High on the Energy Bridge

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