We Deserve to Heal: Black Women on the Perils and Promises of Friendship with White Women

by Patrice Gopo (Contributor), Dorena Williamson (Contributor), Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein (Contributor)

184 pages, Hardcover

Published February 24, 2026

About the author

Patrice Gopo is an award-winning writer who crafts stories steeped in themes of place, belonging, and home. Her essay collections include AUTUMN SONG, recipient of the inaugural Pattis Family Foundation Creative Arts Book Award, and ALL THE COLORS WE WILL SEE, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Her picture books include ALL THE PLACES WE CALL HOME and RIPENING TIME, both inspired by several of her essays. When she’s not writing, Patrice hosts the podcast 'Picture Books Are for Grown-Ups Too!' because she believes in the power of stories to help build connections between people. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina, where she enjoys walks just after dawn and thinks a perfect day ends with ice cream. Please visit www.patricegopo.com to learn more.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book met me in a deeply personal way.

As a 40+ woman whose life has always included a steady presence of white women, I found myself both reflected and reoriented in these pages.

What moved me most is that while the book is about white women, it never loses sight of me. It centers my experience, seeing, body, and knowing. That feels rare and powerful.

There is something here that lingers. I can already feel the shift in how I view myself, and in how I will move in relationship with the white women in my life.

I am deeply grateful for this thoughtful and expansive collection of essays.

[Terra Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Deserve to Heal is beautifully written. Brave, unapologetic, deeply moving and very necessary. The contributors share and examine personal experiences of friendship within the context of race, ethnicity and misrepresentation in a manner that provide insight, pondering and healing. Far too often there are those who do not comprehend how vastly different the histories, agency, cultural values, thought processes and social norms are within Black and white America. Whichever side of the friendship you occupy there is much to gain from these stories and conversations shared.

[nouf AAZ]

Read this after I saw someone recommend it to Ciara