Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education

Stephanie Land gained recognition with her bestselling memoir Maid, which became a critically acclaimed Netflix series and received praise from former-President Barack Obama. Her work typically reflects her personal experiences with poverty and single motherhood, an often underexplored topic in literature and memoir. In some ways, Class picks up where Maid left off. In Class, Land focuses on her desire to further her education despite the many obstacles she faces as a single mother below the poverty line.

Land has found success with her writing, representing a “rags to riches” narrative in her authorial arc. While her memoirs detail moments in her life leading up to her imminent success, the stories themselves are focused narrowly on her struggles at different moments and intersections in her life. Land has notably said that she recognizes her own privilege in that she is a white woman discussing poverty and perceivably receives more of an audience than a person of color in a similar situation might receive. In discussing the realities of financial hardship in the United States, Land gives a voice to many who would have otherwise remained silenced but also remains limited in her capacity to represent those in similarly dire situations.