To Have Not

At the age of seven, Frances Lefkowitz began to realize other people had things that she did not and might never have. This was the moment when the world divided in two, between the 'Haves' and the 'Have Nots'. It was also the moment that launched her on a lifelong examination of what it really means to have and have not - not just financially, but emotionally and culturally as well. Moving from one apartment to the next in 1970s San Francisco, Frances's family always seemed a little bit short of just enough. This upbringing led Frances to wonder what it might be like to have more, a question that led her from the inner city to the halls of an Ivy League institution, to a dusty village in Central America. Funny, smart, and insightful, 'To Have Not' is a debut of a major new literary voice.