"Transforms a familiar refrain of jilted love into a bold,
sustaining time of self-knowledge and discovery. Its rhythms are
infectious." --People
In the winter of
1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead,
Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty
products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe's
wife, Violet, attacks the girl's corpse. This passionate, profound
story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a
narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep
realities of black urban life.
The author
conjures up worlds with complete authority and makes no secret of her
angst at the injustices dealt to black women." --The New York
Times Book Review