In a stunning first novel, renowned hip-hop artist, writer, and activist Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life with a powerful and utterly unforgettable tale.

Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, businessminded, and fashionable, Winter knows no restrictions. No one can control her. She's nobody's victim. And her Pops lets her know she deserves the best. No slum jewelry, cheap shoes, or knockoff designer stuff. We lived in the projects but we were cool with that. We weren't wanting for a damn thing.

Winter knows the Brooklyn streets like she knows the curves of her own body. She maneuvers skillfully, applying all she has learned to come out on top, no matter how dramatically the scenes change. But a cold Winter wind is about to blow her life in a direction she could never have expected.

Pops wanted us to stay away from Brooklyn. He said things weren't safe there. I went crazy. Brooklyn was my world.

Unwilling to give up her ghetto celebrity status, her friends and her lovers, Winter sets off on a series of wild adventures to reclaim her role as princess of the alleyways. But when her schemes begin to unravel, Winter is on her own, figuring out a whole new way to survive.

The Coldest Winter Ever marks the debut of a gifted storyteller. Sister Souljah explores a young urban woman's innermost state of mind in a voice as bold as it is bracingly honest. Provocative and thoroughly entertaining, this is a daring novel of passion, loss, courage — and of the sometimes terribletolls exacted from us just to stay alive. You will never forget this Winter's tale.

-- Chicago Sun-Times

The Coldest Winter Ever is a tour de force...As finely tuned to its heroine's voice as Alice Walker's The Color Purple...Riveting stuff, with language so frank it curls your hair.

Sister Souljah is the #1 author of the hip-hop generation. She is a powerful and uncompromising voice for human rights.

-- Booklist

-- Booklist