Lula Ann/Bride

Bride is the protagonist or main character in the story. She is an African American woman who is a beautiful, vibrant, successful business woman. Bride’s birth name is Lula Ann. She feels that name is too “countryfied” for her profession and changes it to Bride which sounds chic and mysterious. She is the regional manager for a cosmetics company called Sylvia, Inc. She has worked her way up and has recently developed her own line of makeup that she calls YOU, GIRL. Although she was not born in California, she moved far from her mother’s home as soon as she was able.

Bride has been raised in a very strict, even harsh home where she was seen as a burden from the day she was born. Both of her parents are light-skinned, and when she was born dark-skinned, they were both shocked. Her mother...