Synopses & Reviews
When Noire, a hip, Afro-wearing Ph.D. student, walks into Brown Betty Books, her righteousness kicks in to overdrive amid the self-identified "talented tenth" who wear their double degrees and five-hundred-dollar shoes like badges of honor. And then Innocent, a well-heeled investment banker from Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, walks in and turns her on her head. Innocent seems interested in her -- but he's one of them.
Before meeting him, Noire shunned the "bourgie" world of black-moneyed cosmopolitans like Innocent, opting instead for socially conscious (but economically challenged) artists and urban intellectuals. Their mutual attraction blossoms into lust -- and eventually love -- but it lives in the shifting sands of personal beliefs and professional ambitions that are often at odds.
Set in New York City with jaunts to Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, A Love Noire is the story of an unlikely couple that transcends all they've known to learn the redemptive power of love.
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“A Love Noire pulsates with depth and consciousness.” --Tracy Price-Thompson, author of Black Coffee and Chocolate Sangria
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“A refreshing glimpse of love in all its glorious shades of blackness. . . . a smart, sexy, impressive debut.” --Lori Bryant-Woolridge, author of Read Between the Lies
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“What a gorgeous debut novel! The writing is witty, breezy, and sophisticated.” Yolanda Joe, author of The Hatwearer's Lesson
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“Enthralling . . . An intelligently written, brazenly breezy blissful tale . . . Brilliant . . . A winner, a triumph.” --The Blackboard Times
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“A Love Noire is sexy, sophisticated and soulful; a sizzling summer read.” --April Sinclair, author of I Left My Back Door Open
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“Splendid.…[It] offers hope that a new class of black fiction will take root.” Black Issues Book Review
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“Turnipseeds voice is strong and confident. Frank dialogue and a fierce intelligence make this a vibrant, engaging debut.” Publishers Weekly
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“This tumultuous emotional journey ultimately offers a deeper understanding of love and loss.” Heart & Soul
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“Anyone looking to add a litte spice to their vacations should pick up...A Love Noire...an intelligent romance.” People
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“A funny, analytical novel. . . . . ” --Honey magazine
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“Sizzling and sophisticated . . . a provocative, thoughtful love story. . . . A gem.” --Travis Hunter, author of Trouble Man
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“A juicy tale of love and manners in the modern Diaspora. Sharp and entertaining.” --Lisa Jones, author of Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex and Hair
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“Page-turning prose as lush as cashmere sweats and as titillating as your favorite stilettos. --Joan Morgan, author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
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“A captivating love story . . . a first-class novel . . . A great read!” --Lawrence Otis Graham, author of Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class
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“An assured debut . . . . A Love Noire explores the intricacies . . . with vibrancy and grace.” --Go On Girl! Book Club
About the Author
Erica Simone Turnipseed has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. from Columbia University, both in anthropology. She has been published in the anthology Children of the Dream: Our Own Stories of Growing Up Black in America. Erica is Director of Development at The Twenty-First Century Foundation, a national public foundation that promotes black philanthropy and supports African American community-empowerment organizations. She will donate a portion of the proceeds from A Love Noire to the foundation. Erica is a member of the board of directors for the Black Ivy Alumni League and the founder and co-chair of the "Five Years for the House Initiative," a fund-raising drive for the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.