Almost Brown

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An award-winning writer retraces her dysfunctional, biracial family's journey while grappling with ethnicity, belonging, and the complexities of life in a multicultural household. Charlotte Gill's father is Indian and her mother is English; they meet in 1960s London, where interracial love is not widely accepted. Their union leads to familial upheaval, immigration challenges, and the birth of three children in varying shades of tan. The family embarks on a journey from the UK to Canada and the US, seeking life, liberty, and happiness—a pursuit that ultimately drives them apart. This narrative explores the experiences of mixed-race children navigating the paradoxes of identity amid societal race checkboxes. As her parents grow distant due to incompatibility, Charlotte finds herself distancing from her father as well. She questions whether her embarrassment about walking with him stems from his personality or his race. This reflection raises broader questions faced by many mixed-race individuals: What does it mean to be a person of color in a society that views race as a binary? How do relationships with parents evolve over time? With humor and heart, Gill examines the complexities of ancestry, diversity, and the historical constructs of race that continue to shape our understanding of ethnicity today.