Carter decided to write a novel after sitting around a kitchen table at age 12 with her family listening to a great-aunt tell the story of Rose Caldwell, Carter’s great-great-great-great-grandmother. She especially recalls a description of how her Grandma Rose as a young girl watched as her mother was sold across the Mississippi River.

She spent many hours from ages 12 to 15 writing and researching black history for her novel, and what began as a short story became the 479-page “Good Fortune.” She was editing her book by the 11th grade. Then a writing mentor suggested she start speaking at book festivals. The idea paid off, and her book was picked up by Simon & Schuster at BookExpo America in 2008.In the bedroom of her family’s Fayetteville home, the wall above her bed is filled with quotes. They include “Know thyself,” “Just do it” and “This too shall pass.”

Book summaryThe protagonist of Good Fortune is Ayanna Bahati, who is captured in Africa at the age of 4 and brought to the American South to be a slave. Ayanna eventually escapes slavery and starts a new life in Ohio. Along the way, she learns to read and write and starts a school for black students. Often sad, she hears her past echoing in her name, Bahati, which means “good fortune.”

The effect of Carter's book on the current generation has been compared to that of the classic Alex Haley (1921—1992) novel Roots on previous generations. In Roots, Haley traced his ancestry through seven American generations back to Africa.