Harlem Redux - Softcover

Walker, Persia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 141659356X ISBN 13: 9781416593560

Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2008

Synopsis

Four years after dropping out of Harlem society, David McKay, a handsome young lawyer from a prominent Strivers' Row family, returns home, devastated by the news of his sister Lilian's suicide. What caused his once stable, gentle sister to take her own life? Why did she marry Jameson Sweet, giving a man she barely knew a claim to the family home? What caused her flamboyant twin, Gem, to return to Harlem from Paris, forge new bonds, and suddenly depart again? Most important, why did Lilian feel compelled to keep David in the dark about it all? Burdened by a secret of his own, David dares to stay in Harlem just long enough to stave off the threat to his family home and answer questions about Lilian's death. Entering her world, he rediscovers what he left behind -- a place of suffocating class strictures, seductive patrons, and aristocratic civil rights leaders. His inquiry takes him from the wealthy salons of Renaissance Harlem to the crowded tenements of its poor. He uncovers old loves and festering hatreds. But the deeper he probes, the closer he comes to unleashing forces that threaten to reveal his own crippling secret -- a secret that could destroy him or redeem him. This gripping novel, at once taut and lyrical, evokes the mystique of Harlem's most fascinating era. Absorbing and powerful, Harlem Redux combines incisive comment on race and class with a tragic tale of unrequited love.

About this title

Review:

"Harlem’s fabled 1920s ‘Renaissance’ provides the dynamic backdrop for Persia Walker’s entertaining debut novel. A murder mystery set among the black bourgeoisie, it is also the heady tale of a bygone era.... What distinguishes this novel is Walker’s attention to the workings and characters of the times, from the club stars to the numbers runners, to prickly class issues between Strivers’ Row residents and their working-class neighbors. A Harlem native, Walker understands this community and its history, crating a compelling family intrigue and a full, vibrant portrait of that storied era when Harlem’s pulse was the rhythm of black America." --The Boston Globe

"As much a story of lies, deceit and murder as it is a commentary on race and class, Harlem Redux is filled with colorful characters." --The Chicago Tribune

“This intriguing page-turner, convincingly set in the heady era of 1920s’ Harlem, is atmospheric and smart and will keep readers guessing until the very end.” --Tananarive Due, author of The Living Blood and The Black Rose

“A rich, thoroughly enjoyable tale of greed and deceit, passion and betrayal. With her elegant prose, Walker does an amazing job of recreating Harlem during the Renaissance of the 1920s. I loved her characters, their complexity and depth, the struggles they faced and their all too human responses. Walker kept me guessing right to the very end.” --April Christofferson, author of The Protocol and Clinical Trial

“Exotic locales, an odd supporting cast, worthy subplots, and a baffling set of clues .... At the center of this carefully constructed tale of murder, deception, and betrayal is a twisty whodunit. Walker slyly turns and teases readers with her shrewdly rendered characters .... It’s entertaining to watch the various pieces of Walker’s puzzle come together.” --Publisher’s Weekly

"Harlem Redux proves [Walker] more than capable of offering a penetrating dissection of the black upper crust." --The Washington Post

“Walker vividly captures the unique rhythms of Harlem while plotting a convoluted tale of internecine feuds and deadly retribution.” --The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Sexy.” --The New York Daily News“Good historical fun ... with some impeccable scenery.” --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author:

Persia Walker was raised in Harlem. She has been a journalist with Radio Free Europe and the Associated Press. She lives in Munich with her children, Tyler and Jordan.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon and Schuster
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 141659356X
• ISBN 13: 9781416593560
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 324