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Finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature
Finalist for a 2018 Southern Book Prize for Biography and History
“I pounced on [Ms. Pat's] book. And I thought she did such a great job...God, [Rabbit] was entertaining. And I recommended it to so many people.” ―David Sedaris, author of the New York Times bestseller Calypso
"An absolute must-read" – Shondaland
“[Rabbit] tells how it went down with brutal honesty and outrageous humor” – New York Times
“I know a lot of people think they know what it’s like to grow up in the hood. Like maybe they watched a couple of seasons of The Wire and they got the shit all figured out. But TV doesn’t tell the whole story.” – Ms. Pat
They called her Rabbit.
Patricia Williams (aka Ms. Pat) was born and raised in Atlanta at the height of the crack epidemic. One of five children, Pat watched as her mother struggled to get by on charity, cons, and petty crimes. At age seven, Pat was taught to roll drunks for money. At twelve, she was targeted for sex by a man eight years her senior. By thirteen, she was pregnant. By fifteen, Pat was a mother of two.
Alone at sixteen, Pat was determined to make a better life for her children. But with no job skills and an eighth-grade education, her options were limited. She learned quickly that hustling and humor were the only tools she had to survive. Rabbit is an unflinching memoir of cinematic scope and unexpected humor. With wisdom and humor, Pat gives us a rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be a black mom in America.
Currently a stand-up comedian, the circumstances of Pat Williams's childhood was the furthest thing from a laugh. Nicknamed Rabbit, Pat grew up in a tough neighborgood in Atlanta. She had her first child at 14. She had her second at 15. During her teens, she became a drug dealer, was arrested numerous times, and was shot twice. It wasn't until she was 19 that she met a 21-year-old veteran who encouraged and helped her to get out of the "life."
A remarkably bold and inspiring story of crime, motherhood, and redemption—not since Cupcake Brown’s A Piece of Cake has there been a memoir this unforgettable.
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