What do you think?
Rate this book
Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy – A Searing Portrait of a Black Woman's Life and the Effects of Racism
A searing tribute of sisterhood and family, love and profound loss from the acclaimed author of The World According to Fannie Davis.
In Love, Rita, Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, a vivacious woman who in leaving home to attend Fisk University and then becoming a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and later a popular special ed teacher, modeled for her younger sister Bridgett how to live boldly before her own life was tragically cut short by lupus when she was only forty-four. A brave and beautiful homage that both celebrates the special, complex bond of sisterhood yet also reveals what it is to live, and die, as a Black woman in America.
This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, family history and American history, uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women—and the men they love; it is essential reading for fans of Jesmyn Ward, Kiese Laymon, James McBride, Linda Villarosa, and Tressie McMillan Cottom.
In Love, Rita, Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, a vivacious woman who in leaving home to attend Fisk University and then becoming a car test driver, an amateur belly dancer, an MBA, and later a popular special ed teacher, modeled for her younger sister Bridgett how to live boldly before her own life was tragically cut short by lupus when she was only forty-four. A brave and beautiful homage that both celebrates the special, complex bond of sisterhood yet also reveals what it is to live, and die, as a Black woman in America.
This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, family history and American history, uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women—and the men they love; it is essential reading for fans of Jesmyn Ward, Kiese Laymon, James McBride, Linda Villarosa, and Tressie McMillan Cottom.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published March 11, 2025
9 people are currently reading
2043 people want to read
About the author
Bridgett M. Davis
1 book9 followersBridgett M. Davis (pronounced Brih-jet) is the author of the memoir, Love, Rita, published by Harper Books in spring 2025.
Her first memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures.
Davis is writer/director of the 1996 award-winning feature film Naked Acts, newly restored and released to critical acclaim, screening in theaters across the US and globally and now available on DVD, Blu Ray and select streaming services.
She is also author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow, named a Best Book of 2014 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and Shifting Through Neutral, shortlisted for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award.
Davis is Professor Emerita in the journalism department at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she has taught creative, narrative and film writing.
Her essays have appeared most recently in The New York Times, the LA Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. Visit her website at www.bridgettdavis.com.
Her first memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures.
Davis is writer/director of the 1996 award-winning feature film Naked Acts, newly restored and released to critical acclaim, screening in theaters across the US and globally and now available on DVD, Blu Ray and select streaming services.
She is also author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow, named a Best Book of 2014 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and Shifting Through Neutral, shortlisted for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award.
Davis is Professor Emerita in the journalism department at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she has taught creative, narrative and film writing.
Her essays have appeared most recently in The New York Times, the LA Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family. Visit her website at www.bridgettdavis.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 24, 2025
This memoir pays tribute to the author's sister, for sure; giving the reader a sense of Rita's vibrant spirit and care, her warmth, intelligence, style, values, and journey. It also paints a vivid portrait of family love and aspiration, as well as the complexity of family dynamics, loss, and trauma over time. The youngest and lone survivor of 5 siblings, Bridgett M. Davis shares her Sister Story as well as research that examines impacts of systemic racism on Black American health and well-being, particularly as it relates to Rita being diagnosed and living with lupus toward the end of the 2oth century. As heartbreaking as much of the book seems, it succeeds as a buoyant memoir filled with loving lights of joy, remembrance, soul-searching, soul-finding, acceptance, forgiveness, and illumination.
I've had a copy of The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers for some time, so now I REALLY want to read it sooner rather than later. But I've got to finish digesting this one first; and I'm looking forward to an upcoming zoom book club meeting with Bridgett M. Davis.
I've had a copy of The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers for some time, so now I REALLY want to read it sooner rather than later. But I've got to finish digesting this one first; and I'm looking forward to an upcoming zoom book club meeting with Bridgett M. Davis.
September 19, 2025
Thank you for introducing us to Rita and your story of love and grief.
April 10, 2025
The true tribute to a sister and a tribute to the ancestry and legacy of a black family. Told with such deep reverence and research - a family that celebrated their imperfections alongside love in such a supportive and loving family.
April 21, 2025
This book feels like a visit into a family. You see all the members - Mamma, John T. and the siblings, you hear their stories and see their relationships, their trials and triumphs and the love they have for one another. It’s a beautiful story, a story full of tragedy but always, the love shines through.
I learned about Lupus from this book and about racism, in society and in healthcare. I think those are very important to know about and I’m glad I read the book. But what will stay with me was the love of family. Especially between Bridgett and Rita of course but the rest of the family as well.
I learned about Lupus from this book and about racism, in society and in healthcare. I think those are very important to know about and I’m glad I read the book. But what will stay with me was the love of family. Especially between Bridgett and Rita of course but the rest of the family as well.
October 7, 2025
Another wonderful familial autobiography by my former professor, mentor, and friend Bridgett M. Davis, Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy centers on her relationship with her late sister, Rita R. Davis. It’s a deeply personal narrative that also doubles as an unvarnished account of how generational trauma and systemic racism continue to affect African Americans—particularly African American women—to this very day.
Given how surprisingly revelatory this memoir is in regards to societal oppression aimed at African Americans, it’s sometimes easy to forget that at its core is a simple story about a bond between two sisters—filled to the brim with the complexity, irritation, and unconditional love that comes with such a thing. Davis paints her late great older sister as someone worthy of the title of big sister and role model. Someone who pulled herself up by her pumps, got her higher education, and poured herself into her work and family, all the while dealing with the systematic, generational hardships that come with being a Black woman and focal point for her Detroit-based family throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Meanwhile, Davis parallels her own journey from child to adulthood, showcasing both how Rita played such an integral part in her upbringing, their similar experiences as Detroit-born and bred Black women, and the transformation her death had on her as a sister, writer, and archivist for her family—not just Rita.
When Davis takes her moments to gain altitude on certain facets of her and her sister’s lives—in the interest of correlating their story to that of the broader African American community, particularly African American women—it’s done diligently and in a manner that’s both illuminating and not too disruptive to the overall story. Concepts like “weathering,” the accelerated health deterioration of racial minorities due to the cumulative effects of chronic stress from societal discrimination, are put on display and backed by statistics on everything from economic and institutional barriers such as real estate exploitation and workplace discrimination, to how disproportionately affected African Americans are by diseases such as hypertension and lupus. Other asides include an acknowledgment of the hardships of caregivers (something I very much appreciated given I became one myself upon my mother’s cancer diagnosis), the unending bureaucracy that is the American healthcare system, and the toll grief can take upon a person when faced with the precipice of death over a prolonged period of time. All of it—and I do mean all of it—adeptly enhances the themes and emotionality of the narrative in magnificent fashion.
Am I biased given the love and respect I have for the author? Absolutely. But that should not deter you from this tenderly wondrous, venerating, sometimes harrowing tale of sisterly love. Having lost my mother nearly two years to the date of this review—who also happened to be my best friend, our relationship being more akin to that of a brother and sister than a mother and son—it’s not hard in the least for me to fully understand, at least from a grief-stricken point of view, where Davis is coming from within her sister’s memoir. And that’s no more apparent, at least for me, than in this one particular quote, slightly modified to make it more universal:
“…As soon as she took her last breath, life felt emptier, the richness she carried into every room with her gone alongside her smile, her mannerisms, her voice. [She] knew me before I knew myself, loved me no matter what. She was my best friend…She and I went through so much together. That bond was irreplaceable. And it still is.”
If you’re lucky enough to have yet to lose someone worthy of such a quote, trust me when I say that pretty much sums it up in a nutshell.
Given how surprisingly revelatory this memoir is in regards to societal oppression aimed at African Americans, it’s sometimes easy to forget that at its core is a simple story about a bond between two sisters—filled to the brim with the complexity, irritation, and unconditional love that comes with such a thing. Davis paints her late great older sister as someone worthy of the title of big sister and role model. Someone who pulled herself up by her pumps, got her higher education, and poured herself into her work and family, all the while dealing with the systematic, generational hardships that come with being a Black woman and focal point for her Detroit-based family throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Meanwhile, Davis parallels her own journey from child to adulthood, showcasing both how Rita played such an integral part in her upbringing, their similar experiences as Detroit-born and bred Black women, and the transformation her death had on her as a sister, writer, and archivist for her family—not just Rita.
When Davis takes her moments to gain altitude on certain facets of her and her sister’s lives—in the interest of correlating their story to that of the broader African American community, particularly African American women—it’s done diligently and in a manner that’s both illuminating and not too disruptive to the overall story. Concepts like “weathering,” the accelerated health deterioration of racial minorities due to the cumulative effects of chronic stress from societal discrimination, are put on display and backed by statistics on everything from economic and institutional barriers such as real estate exploitation and workplace discrimination, to how disproportionately affected African Americans are by diseases such as hypertension and lupus. Other asides include an acknowledgment of the hardships of caregivers (something I very much appreciated given I became one myself upon my mother’s cancer diagnosis), the unending bureaucracy that is the American healthcare system, and the toll grief can take upon a person when faced with the precipice of death over a prolonged period of time. All of it—and I do mean all of it—adeptly enhances the themes and emotionality of the narrative in magnificent fashion.
Am I biased given the love and respect I have for the author? Absolutely. But that should not deter you from this tenderly wondrous, venerating, sometimes harrowing tale of sisterly love. Having lost my mother nearly two years to the date of this review—who also happened to be my best friend, our relationship being more akin to that of a brother and sister than a mother and son—it’s not hard in the least for me to fully understand, at least from a grief-stricken point of view, where Davis is coming from within her sister’s memoir. And that’s no more apparent, at least for me, than in this one particular quote, slightly modified to make it more universal:
“…As soon as she took her last breath, life felt emptier, the richness she carried into every room with her gone alongside her smile, her mannerisms, her voice. [She] knew me before I knew myself, loved me no matter what. She was my best friend…She and I went through so much together. That bond was irreplaceable. And it still is.”
If you’re lucky enough to have yet to lose someone worthy of such a quote, trust me when I say that pretty much sums it up in a nutshell.
April 10, 2025
Bridgett M. Davis has not written a book I haven't enjoyed, from Into the Go-Slow to her memoir about her mother, The World According to Fannie Davis. Her latest work, Love, Rita, continues this tradition of excellence. Though it's a long book, it reads quickly, a testament to Davis's engaging storytelling that pulls you through the narrative. Davis writes with the same gentle voice and careful attention that characterized her previous works, but this memoir feels different...more intimate and revealing. By sharing the personal letters Rita wrote to her, Davis invites readers into their sisterly bond in a way that feels privileged.
Davis uses her sister's story to illuminate larger societal issues. The book doesn't just tell Rita's story, it places it in the framework of historic happenings and how systemic racism affects health outcomes, particularly for Black women.
My heart broke as Davis chronicled how her family became smaller and smaller, surviving loss after loss, tragedy after tragedy. The book serves as both a celebration of Rita's vibrant life—car test driver, belly dancer, MBA graduate, and special education teacher, and a remembrance for what was lost when lupus cut her life short.
I listened to the audiobook read by the author, which added another layer of poignant meaning to the experience. Hearing Davis's voice tell her sister's story made the memoir feel even more personal and moving. Love, Rita stands out among memoirs in that it balances the deeply personal with the universal. As Davis herself has said, this book will resonate with "anyone who has battled a chronic illness or loved someone who has, anyone who has some experience with inherited and lived trauma."
The inclusion of Rita's 22 letters and family photographs enriches the memoir, giving readers a more complete picture of Rita and the special bond the sisters shared. It was like hearing Rita tell her own story.
Davis has created not just a tribute to her sister, but a powerful testament to strength in the face of injustice. Love, Rita is a book that both breaks your heart and fills it.
Davis uses her sister's story to illuminate larger societal issues. The book doesn't just tell Rita's story, it places it in the framework of historic happenings and how systemic racism affects health outcomes, particularly for Black women.
My heart broke as Davis chronicled how her family became smaller and smaller, surviving loss after loss, tragedy after tragedy. The book serves as both a celebration of Rita's vibrant life—car test driver, belly dancer, MBA graduate, and special education teacher, and a remembrance for what was lost when lupus cut her life short.
I listened to the audiobook read by the author, which added another layer of poignant meaning to the experience. Hearing Davis's voice tell her sister's story made the memoir feel even more personal and moving. Love, Rita stands out among memoirs in that it balances the deeply personal with the universal. As Davis herself has said, this book will resonate with "anyone who has battled a chronic illness or loved someone who has, anyone who has some experience with inherited and lived trauma."
The inclusion of Rita's 22 letters and family photographs enriches the memoir, giving readers a more complete picture of Rita and the special bond the sisters shared. It was like hearing Rita tell her own story.
Davis has created not just a tribute to her sister, but a powerful testament to strength in the face of injustice. Love, Rita is a book that both breaks your heart and fills it.
November 7, 2025
I gave this book one extra star because of serendipity. It’s been helpful to read a book so close to my own family’s life, especially as we deal with a brand new loss. That being said, Davis’ writing style is different from what I usually prefer, and I found some of her style to be very telling but not showing, so to speak.
I loved the rounded portrait of her sister, and the empathetic portraits of many family member’s struggles with addiction or experiences of abuse. I also loved the statistical data and scholarship sprinkled throughout the book to provide us with a thorough understanding of what it means to be ill and black in America.
I loved the rounded portrait of her sister, and the empathetic portraits of many family member’s struggles with addiction or experiences of abuse. I also loved the statistical data and scholarship sprinkled throughout the book to provide us with a thorough understanding of what it means to be ill and black in America.
August 10, 2025
An insightful look at a family marked with tragedies, sisterhood and the legacy of Rita. The author's story about the love of her sister was developed well and I felt that I knew the family. The realization of the quality of care for black women was not a surprise to me, but I feel that others who do not believe it happens will see that Rita (and others) was a victim. I kept this in my TBR pile and finally got to it. I am glad I did. I will definitely read her mother's story.
April 5, 2025
This book adroitly explores what it means to be a black woman and a black sister. It really squeezed my heart. A must read. Thank you for bravely sharing your sister’s story, Bridgett, as well as your own!
April 6, 2025
A very good book about the author's family and her close relationship with her older sister. The family works very hard for all they have while running headlong into the hardships and stress of being black in America. An eye opening book that should be widely read.
December 2, 2025
Beautifully written book about the joys and many tragedies within the author's family. This combo memoir/biography is a loving tribute to a big sister and a thoughtful consideration of the impact of systemic racism, subpar healthcare, and housing discrimination.
March 18, 2025
Thank you Bridgett Davis for the gift. This is the kind of book that touches the soul and leaves a mark that lasts a lifetime!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews