Books

My first non-fiction book, My Pisces Heart: A Black Immigrant’s Search for Home Across Four Continents, will be published on 22 October 2024 with Catapult in North America (UK & Commonwealth territories pending). You can preorder here. Read more in the description below!

With heart, humor, and razor-sharp observation, this intimate and incisive memoir traces the journey of a Black, queer woman as she searches the world for a place of security and acceptance to call home

I’ve never seen home as a permanent concept; it is an image crafted from untempered glass that threatens to shatter with lack of care.

Jennifer Neal was born in the United States to a family that moved continuously for their own survival and well-being—from the Great Migration to modern day. Since growing up, she has continued to travel the world across two decades and four continents.

As Jennifer moves from Japan to Chicago, Australia to Germany (where she has settled for now), she weaves her story of immigration with the local Black histories and politics to provide context for her experiences. A vulnerable and sometimes heart-breaking narrative, this book is both a tender tribute to immigrants and their stories as well as a searing indictment of how contemporary discourse endangers them.

This generous personal record is both a crucial examination of how race plays the foundational role of modern-day immigration systems, as well as how racism is the true scourge sweeping across a western world—crossing border walls and threatening global society. The result is an urgent tale of culture-shock and self-discovery, one that sheds light on the courage it takes for anyone to leave one land for another.

An unwavering interrogation of colonialism and policy, love and loss, hypocrisy and resistance, My Pisces Heart demands meaningful conversation on not only the ways in which we live with our histories, but also how they live through us—urging an honest dialogue on why the West continues to grapple with its past, and visualize its future.

My debut novel is OUT NOW wherever books are sold!

“A vital and gripping voice on migration, displacement and home. And a propulsive, thoughtful memoir from a fascinating life. I couldn’t stop reading it!” 

—Dina Nayeri, author of National Book Award Longlisted Who Gets Believed? and The Ungrateful Refugee

In North America:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Bookshop / Your Local Indie

In Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania:

Penguin Random House Australia / Amazon AU / Booktopia AU / Readings / Abbeys / Kinokuniya

United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries coming soon!

“Florida kitsch swirls together with magical realism in this glittering debut novel about a young Black and Indigenous woman who learns to change the color of her skin

Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her mother Tallulah, one marked by
intimacy and resilience in the face of a volatile patriarch. Everything in their home has been
bleached a cold white—from the kitchen cabinets and the food within to the living room and the
piano at its center. Even Gabrielle, who inherited the ability to change the color of her skin from
her mother Tallulah, is told to pass into white if she doesn’t want to upset her father.
But this vital mother-daughter bond implodes when Tallulah is hospitalized for a mental health
crisis. Separated from her mother for the first time in her life, Gabrielle must learn to control the
temperamental shifts in her color on her own.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle is spending a year after high school focusing on her piano lessons, an
extracurricular her father is sure will make her a more appealing candidate for med school. Her
instructor, a queer, dark-skinned woman named Dominique, seems to encapsulate everything
Gabrielle is missing in her life—creativity, confidence, and perhaps most importantly, a
nurturing sense of love. Together, they plan to get Gabrielle away from her chaotic household by
applying to music schools far away.

Following a young woman looking for a world beyond her family’s carefully-coded existence,
Notes on Her Color is a lushly written and haunting tale that shows how love, in its best sense,
can be a liberating force from destructive origins.”

Praise for Notes on Her Color:

“A vibrant story of self-actualization . . . Riveting . . . A sweeping story of family, community, coming of age, trauma, mental illness, and the life-giving power of art.” —Sarah Neilson, Shondaland

“At its core, this is a story of expectations, relationships and love.” —Karla Strand, Ms., A Most Anticipated Title of the Year

“Notes on Her Color is not only a debut novel by Jennifer Neal, but also a musical composition. Each word is a note carefully considered before being etched onto the page with the hope of bringing art to life and feelings to the surface.” —Aaron Coats, Chicago Review of Books

“In this coming-of-age debut, exceptional storyteller Neal paints a picture of racism and patriarchy in suburban Florida and one young woman’s journey to break free from it all.” —Booklist (starred review)

“A haunting coming-of-age story, a melodic love letter to the language of music and a fierce, dark, rage-filled upbraiding of patriarchal violence . . . A fascinating commentary on race, power, invisibility and desire.” —Laura Sackton, BookPage

“Gosh, what a wonder this book is. It’s about race, yes of course. But it’s about so much more as well. It’s a tale of mothers and daughters, of Florida hurricanes and the madness of music. It’s about code switching in ways that you’ve never considered, and about what it means to be of a place and of a people. Jennifer Neal has written a book drenched in hurt and magic, love and grief. Read it twice, because a book like this comes along rarely.” SAMI SHAH, author of The Islamic Republic of Australia

“Remember how the half-hidden rides at amusement parks seemed riskier than the out-in-the-open, sky-high roller coasters? Because you’d hear a scream get swallowed up behind the façade of a mountain range and not know what was going to come next. Reading Jennifer Neal’s impressive debut, Notes on Her Color, a magical journey about music and race and queerness and passing and mothers and daughters, reminds me of those mysterious, thrill rides. While the twists and turns hide around the bend, you are also keenly aware that you’re being navigated safely, regardless of the illusion of danger. Then when you get dumped into the daylight, hair all mussed from the swerves, the first thing you want to do is to turn to your fellow passengers and recap every moment. Read this book. Come find me and we can bond over our shared joy. Weep over what we thought we feared.” GENE KWAK, author of Go Home, Ricky!

“This is a coming of age story with a difference. With a generous helping of magical realism and the assured tenderness of a born storyteller, Jennifer Neal lays bare the brutality of how intergenerational trauma and racism conspire to teach us to hate ourselves.” RUBY HAMAD, author of White Tears, Brown Scars

An ode to the artistic and individual truth and an unflinching examination of soft-spoken suburban bigotry; it’s a crescendo of Florida hurricanes, first love, and the undeniability of becoming yourself. The remarkable protagonist of Notes on Her Colour practices Chopin’s second piano scherzo, a piece described by Schumann as ‘so overflowing with tenderness, boldness, love, and contempt.’ The same is all true of Jennifer Neal’s lyrical and urgent debut.” REBECCA RUKEYSER, author of The Seaplane on Final Approach

“Spellbinding and original, Notes on Her Colour marks the arrival of a significant new voice in contemporary literature. Through the story of Gabrielle, a young woman seeking to transcend the ‘orchestral catastrophe’ of her home life, Jennifer Neal has crafted a vivid and powerful meditation on mothers and daughters, houses haunted by the living, and the redemptive power of love and music.” TOM DRURY, author of The End of Vandalism

“This novel sparkles with rich, lyrical, sensuous prose. It portrays dysfunctional family relationships, cleverly revealing their complexity and contradictions as the story unfolds. It is moving and desperately sad at times, yet not without hope. An original novel that will stay with me long after reading.” JACQUELINE ROY, author of The Gosling Girl and The Fat Lady Sings