Former executive editor of Essence magazine and Blackboard best-selling author Valerie Wilson Wesley has received the Literary Award for fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She has also been nominated for the Shamus award. In Playing My Mother's Blues, Wesley explores the complexities of love and family. Dani Carter is seven years old when her mother Maria leaves the family for a new lover. As a child, Dani could not fathom her mother's behavior. But now, as a married mother who is having an affair, Dani feels a strong connection with this woman she barely knew-but who is beginning to be a part of her life once again.