See Nacre

Nacre

Nacre , also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some mollusks as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up pearls. It is very strong, resilient, and iridescent....

 for material produced by mollusks.

Mother of Pearl (1999) is a novel by Melinda Haynes

Melinda Haynes

Melinda Haynes is an American novelist. She grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. For much of her adult life she was a painter. In 1999, she wrote her first published novel, Mother of Pearl, while living in a mobile home in Grand Bay, Alabama. Melinda Haynes currently resides in Mobile, Alabama...

, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...

 selection, June 1999. The audio version is performed by Nana Visitor

Nana Visitor

Nana Visitor , born Nana Tucker, is an American actress, best known for playing Kira Nerys in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Jean Ritter in the television series Wildfire.-Early life:...

.

Plot introduction

Set in Petal, a small Mississippi town at the close of the 1950s, this novel tells the story of the 28-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, a 15-year-old white girl, who is the daughter of the town prostitute and an unknown father. They are both separately seeking the family, love, and affection they had not had before, until their paths cross owing to their common acquaintance of loner mystic Joody Two Sun.

Characters in Mother of Pearl

• Even Grade – 28-year-old black man
• Valuable Korner – 15-year-old white girl
• Bea – white woman, partner of Neva
• Canaan Mosley – black man, older friend and neighbor of Even Grade
• Enid Korner – Valuable's mother
• Luvenia Korner – Valuable's grandmother, Enid's mother
• Grace Johnson – black woman, caretaker of Joleb
• Jackson – white boy, friend of Valuable and father of Pearl
• Joleb Green – white boy, friend of Valuable
• Joody Two Sun – black-Indian woman, partner of Even Grade
• Louise Green – aunt of Joleb
• Neva – white woman, partner of Bea
• Pearl – son of Valuable and Jackson
• Russ (Father Russell L. Landry) – Catholic priest