Inter library loans are awesome. Rather than being limited to the offerings of my local library I have access to collections all over Maine. It's always such a thrill when I pick up a stack. True, there are some duds that don't live up to their descriptions. But more often I pick up an amazing, spellbinding, impossible to put down volume. This was the case with Jumata Emill's The Black Queen. It seamlessly weaves together small town Southern intrigue, vivid characters, and a roller coaster ride of a plot with insights into the ubiquitousness and evils of racism.
Tinsley, the white, privileged younger daughter of an influential family, feels that she's entitled to be her high school's homecoming queen. Her grandmother, mother, and older sister wielded the crown and scepter their senior years. And she has not so nice ways she's destroyed rivals for previous leadership positions.
But she's met her match in strikingly beautiful and immensely popular Nova--even after trying her best to intimidate her in a Mean Girls style show down and attempting to bribe her by offering to have her family pay for the restoration of a Black cemetery where Nova volunteers.
The night when Nova is crowned their school's first Black queen with much fanfare Tinsley is noticeably absent, off partying with her supposed besties, Giselle and Lana. When she makes a very drunk rant, stating that she should have killed Nova and left her body in "that slave cemetery she loves so much" she doesn't suspect that Lana is filming and posting to social media...
...where the video goes viral...
...which is bad news for Tinsley because the next morning Nova is found dead. Guess where.
Now a media hounded Tinsley is struggling to prove her innocence and avoid jail. Duchess, Nova's closest friend, is striving to put her killer behind bars. Duchess's police captain father is searching for the truth as both the black community and his white chief undermine him. And diverse characters, some with pretty sketchy motive, are inserting themselves in the situation.
If you have a hunger for intrigue, drama, and suspense you will find The Black Queen to be mmm mmm good.
In his acknowledgements Emill hints at writing more stories and maybe including Tinsley and Duchess in some of them. Now that is something to really look forward to.
On a purrrsonal note, I am getting so tired of the snow. The woods path between my house is totally impassable. So now I have to hunt for rides to and from school. Eugene is working all kinds of hours. He isn't getting enough sleep. I'm more than ready for spring. Most people I talk to are also.
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and the other blizzard battlers.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
No comments:
Post a Comment