Dickey's debut novel follows three young Black women in Los Angeles whose romantic lives intersect and unravel. Valerie, the younger sister, has spent six years trying to be the perfect wife to Walter, whose football ambitions and their marriage have stalled, and is drawn to Daniel. Her older sister Inda, a divorced social worker, discovers that her lover Raymond is deceiving her — and that flight attendant Chiquita has been deceived by the same man, who is engaged to a third woman. The discovery binds Inda and Chiquita in friendship; Chiquita is drawn into the family circle and toward the sisters' brother, Brown. Told in shifting points of view with humor and candor, the novel celebrates Black sisterhood while examining infidelity, color, family loyalty, and starting again. It reached number one on the Blackboard Bestsellers List and was later named by Essence among its 50 Most Impactful Black Books of the Last 50 Years.
Author: Eric Jerome Dickey · Original publisher: Dutton (New York), 1996
