Wrapped in Rainbows

An examination of Zora Neale Hurston in all her complexities and contradictions, providing the kind of scrutiny of the author's life that is missing from the literature. The biography addresses numerous issues that have remained underexplored and warrant further inquiry. For example, what was Zora Neale Hurston doing during the "missing ten years", now that her birthdate has been confirmed as 1891 and not 1901. What role did hoodoo/voodoo really play in her life? What about her relationships with women? - questions answered in this biography. "Wrapped in Rainbows" is a vivid portrait of one of the 20th century's most fascinating writers, whom nearly every black woman writer of significance has publicly acknowledged as a literary foremother. Drawing on meticulous research and a wealth of crucial information about Hurston that has emerged over the past 20 years, Valerie Boyd presents a picture of the writer and the woman.