Called “Tasha” by her family, Natasha is the narrator of the memoir. Natasha was born on April 26, 1966—100 years to the day that Confederate Memorial Day was first celebrated in Mississippi. She was born at Gulfport Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Mississippi, where she spent the early part of her childhood with both of her parents. Her father was out of town when she was born. She and her family first lived with her grandmother in Mississippi. After her parents’ separation, Gwen and Natasha moved to Atlanta.

Natasha developed a love of writing early on, producing her own books from construction paper during childhood and keeping a diary in her teens. She worked for the school literary magazine in high school, in addition to being on the gymnastics team and cheerleading. She made the decision to become a writer during childhood. Her need to write was partly born out of her sense of wanting to tell her mother’s story. In her writing, she also explores her biracial identity. She returned to DeKalb County later in life—this time, with her husband, Brett—to take a teaching job.