The Darkest Corner

by Mildred Barger Herschler

One night Teddy witnesses a cross burning from her attic window. She knows about the frightening White Knights of Mississippi, but she never imagine that her father is one of them. With her best friend, a black girl named Stella, Teddy embraces the civil rights movement in direct opposition to her staunchly conservative father. Over a period of several years, Teddy's family is undermined by the insidious effects of racism as her father struggles to maintain the status quo, her mother begins to speak out, and Teddy grapples with irreconcilable truths.

Genres: Young Adult

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 1996

About the author

Mildred Barger Herschler, a native of West Virginia, was a reporter on one of her hometown daily newspapers before she attended Bethany College, majoring in journalism. She has lived on Long Island and in New York City, where she was the editor of a weekly magazine for marketing executives and a freelance writer for periodicals before moving to the South. Her poetry has appeared in The Crisis, she was a winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project in 1996 with her short story, Martin's Epiphany, and she was an artist-in-residence in October 1994 at the Millay Colony for the Arts.

She is the author of a children's biography of Frederick Douglass and an historical novel, The Walk Into Morning, which received critical acclaim, including a starred review from Kirkus, which called it "A stormy, yet keenly focused, dramatically potent first novel."

Reviews

[Alexis Mathis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an amazing book. I loved it.

[Ashley]

FS:
LS:

[Stephanie Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darkest Corner by Mildred Barger Herschler is a very interesting book. This book had my attention right from the beginning. Although at times it may be a little hard to fallow, you end up figuring out fairly quickly. This book is about the Civil Rights Movement. I think this book really helps explain some of the major difficulties during that time period. This is a fairly short book at only 240 pages, and is a very easy, quick read. I really enjoyed this book, and I always wanted to know what happened next. I never found myself not looking forward to reading it. It really helps you gain more information about the Civil Rights Movement, and helps you understand it better, or in a new way. I would have to say that this is a must read for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Movement. I would also recommend this as a class read for a school learning about the Civil Rights Movement. This story is told for a young girl, so I would also recommend this to teenage girls.

[Robbie Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the perspective that The Darkest Corner was written from. The Darkest Corner is about a young girl named Teddy. Teddy's father is a huge racist and a member of the KKK. Teddy has several African-American friends. When Teddy starts expressing her beliefs toward her father about his beliefs, her ideas are ignored. Overall, this book is about how Teddy changed throughout the Civil Rights Movement and learned how to stand up for herself. I recommend this book to all teenagers and older. It really helps you understand several perspectives during this time period.

[Kayni Wadee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Darkest Corner was about a girl and the civil rights movement. I didnt like the book because it had to many things in it. It didnt focus on just one thing or two things it was a ton of things and id dint like the moving around so much. i would recommend this to no one.

[Mikaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a little over 24 hours! It was an easy read, yet constantly fed historically accurate accounts of marches, sit ins, and real life dramatic situations that occured during the civil rights movements.