Janet McDonald grew up in a family in pursuit of the American Dream, a dream that seemed within easy reach of the gifted student. In school, McDonald soared past her peers into a world of privilege -- college at Vassar, studies in Paris, law school at Cornell -- one she was prepared for only intellectually. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she held on emotionally to the project world she was poised to leave behind.

Project Girl is a story of a divided Life and of the struggle to reconcile two opposing worlds. In college, there was drug abuse. In law school, an arson arrest. She suffered a nervous breakdown after a rape. Only through brains, will, and support from friends and family was McDonald able to gain control of her life.

Few books have told about the tensions of growing up gifted in the inner city so candidly, and few success stories seem as unlikely as the one narrated in Project Girl.