First published 2006
Rufus Scott, a Black jazz musician in Manhattan, spirals into desperate rage after a traumatic encounter with a white woman. His implosion ripples through an interconnected web of artists, lovers, and expatriates—each wrestling with identity, sexuality, and survival in a city charged with unspoken tensions. As Rufus's friends and lovers attempt to understand his breakdown, they confront their own fragile boundaries of race, desire, and human connection. Their stories intertwine with brutal intimacy, revealing the explosive fault lines of 1950s America.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, contemporary
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Harlem
Period: 1950s
448 pages · Paperback · PENGUIN
Content warnings: racism, sexual-content, violence