When asked "What do black people think of Finding Hollis"

At a recent book reading in Minneapolis I was asked what black people think of Finding Hollis. While writing the book I was continuously aware of the fact that I was creating characters from ethnic groups from which I did not seemingly belong. Knowing the historical misrepresentation of people of color by white writers and the limited opportunity for people of color to tell there own story, I thought of my options. I could write a book omitting the presence of groups of people I can only really know by shared concerns and not shared experience or I could include them, acknowledging that they germinate from my own specific perspective. I obviously opted for the second choice and felt confident as my story emerged that I had paid enough attention as a human and a writer that I could construct my characters with an authenticity that each deserved.
Nonetheless when the reporter asked me the question, the answer that I gave boiled down to "my husband and my one black friend liked it." An answer that I laughed about over dinner with that friend a few days ago. Since being asked, all the people of color that have read it and gave me great feedback have popped into my head, including my mother-in-law.
Thinking about it, of course it matters to me what black people think of Finding Hollis but I also told the reporter that the book is really aimed for white people to read. Here is why. As a white person writing a book about race, I can only offer wisdom from my unique point of view. I can offer the idea that the world is not just about us even when we could easily pretend it is, especially in 1944 in Minneapolis. This is the privilege of being white in America and Finding Hollis is an attempt to prove that it is a privilege worth discarding. Like a number of characters in the book, I have learned that I prefer a world that expects more from me and offers more to those I love. To write a book that does not include issues of race, would be for me, an offense against my children's right to walk into the future wearing a smile.