Nouvelle soul

"Nouvelle Soul begins where labels of race, gender, and status end, where lives undress in intimate moments of unexpected challenge," writes Barbara Summers. Chosen to launch Amistad's fiction series introducing talented new African-American writers, Nouvelle Soul is a graceful and sophisticated collection sure to become part of enduring contemporary literature. Its twenty-four stories, as different in style as they are in subject, introduce a diverse range of characters. And personalities - real people in settings sensitively drawn to reflect realities we often overlook - and provide new perspectives on scenes we think familiar. Barbara Summers depicts men and women confronted with the varying demands of everyday life, lovers finding and losing each other, pioneers challenging the status quo. She seats us on a park bench next to three young children sharing a fried chicken lunch with Billie Holiday ("A Bite to Eat"). She turns the tables. On a narcissistic young Black professional for whom women seem at best a form of entertainment ("Maneuvers"). She takes us on vacation with three young married women reveling in the freedom of one night out by themselves ("Boqueron"). She obliges