Other editions of book What You Owe Me

Bebe Moore Campbell is a New York Times best-selling author and an NAACP Image award winner. In What You Owe Me, an epic tale of friendship, betrayal, loss, accountability, and healing, she spans 50 years of African-American history. New to Los Angeles, Hosanna Clark, a farm worker from Texas, befriends Holocaust survivor Gilda Rosenstein. Together they build a cosmetics company and a deep friendship. Then Gilda disappears, taking with her the company's assets. The loss leaves Hosanna financially ruined and emotionally damaged. Years later, after her death, Hosanna's daughter will look to collect the debt Gilda owes. In addition to her novels, Bebe Moore Campbell is the author of several nonfiction books including Successful Women, Angry Men, which explores the changing dynamics within families. Narrator Caroline Clay masterfully takes us through the heartaches and the victories of this emotional journey.

“A multigenerational saga . . . about forgiveness and redemption. Lavish and funny and perfect.”—The Los Angeles Times Sweeping across fifty years of family, friendship, betrayal and reconciliation, What You Owe Me is Bebe Moore Campbell’s most ambitious achievement in storytelling. When Hosanna Clark—a hotel maid in post-World War II Los Angeles—first meets her new co-worker, Holocaust survivor Gilda Rosenstein, she is shocked to see a white woman in a situation so like her own. They quickly become friends, then business partners. But when their cosmetics company meets with unprecedented success, Gilda disappears with the profits—and leaves behind an emotional debt that grows with time, in the hearts and souls of generations to come. . . . “Entertaining . . . engaging . . . heartwarming.” —Boston Herald

Los Angeles, l945: When Hosanna Clark, newly arrived from the farm fields of Texas, befriends Holocaust survivor Gilda Rosenstein, she opens the door to a new life for them both. Using Gilda's knowledge of cosmetics and Hosanna's energy and determination, they begin producing a line of lipsticks and lotions for black women. The two are more than partners: They are dear friends. Then Gilda suddenly disappears, taking all the assets. Hosanna is doubly betrayed: financially ruined and emotionally bereft. When, years later, she passes away, her small cosmetics company dies with her. But Hosanna leaves behind a daughter steeped in her mother's pain: Matriece is as smart and driven as her mother and savvy enough to recognize that white firms are competing not only for black consumer dollars but for black professional talent as well. When Gilda's huge cosmetics conglomerate hires her to launch a line of black beauty products, Matriece takes on a mission to collect her mother's debt. What You Owe Me is a stunning account of the changes we have seen in white attitudes toward blacks, but it is also a sensitive look at what betrayal-of friendship, of love-does to us all. Ultimately, it is a moving book about healing. As Emerge magazine acknowledged, "Campbell's writings are a beacon of light, helping assuage the anger by tending our deepest wounds."

“A multigenerational saga . . . about forgiveness and redemption. Lavish and funny and perfect.”—The Los Angeles Times Sweeping across fifty years of family, friendship, betrayal and reconciliation, What You Owe Me is Bebe Moore Campbell’s most ambitious achievement in storytelling. When Hosanna Clark—a hotel maid in post-World War II Los Angeles—first meets her new co-worker, Holocaust survivor Gilda Rosenstein, she is shocked to see a white woman in a situation so like her own. They quickly become friends, then business partners. But when their cosmetics company meets with unprecedented success, Gilda disappears with the profits—and leaves behind an emotional debt that grows with time, in the hearts and souls of generations to come. . . . “Entertaining . . . engaging . . . heartwarming.” —Boston Herald