The thread goes on and on, but almost every entry is more or less the same thing: marginalized people disappearing.
I hand the phone back to Jamel. My head starts to spin, imagining how many places across the country might have had nights like we had last night or were taken out by more subtle forces. How many didn’t make it through.
“What happens now?” I ask.
“Now? We sit here and eat our food,” Paulette says. “Always fighting to be done. Rushing won’t help anything. Being strong will.”
Theo grips my hand under the table, and outside a siren wails in the distance.
I don’t jump.
I pat my waistband and make sure Mommy’s revolver, which Fitzroy found for me, is still there.
Then I pick up my fork and eat.
Additional Reading Material
This list includes a few of the many sources I referenced while writing, as well as others that touch on the topics at hand.
de Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko. “Why Black Homeowners in Brooklyn Are Being Victimized by Fraud.” New York Times. October 21, 2019.
Freeman, Lance. There Goes the ’Hood: Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up. Temple University Press, 2006.
Ottley, Roi, and William J. Weatherby, eds. The Negro in New York: An Informal Social History, 1626–1940. Praeger Paperbacks, 1967.
Spellen, Suzanne (aka Montrose Morris). https://www.brownstoner.com/author/montrosemorris/. [Various articles on the architectural history of Brooklyn at Brownstoner.com.]
Staples, Brent. “To Be a Slave in Brooklyn.” New York Times. June 24, 2001.
There Goes the Neighborhood, season 1 (podcast). Produced by The Nation and WNYC Studios. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/neighborhood/season-one.
Wellman, Judith. Brooklyn’s Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York. New York University Press, 2014.
Wilder, Craig Steven. A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn. Columbia University Press, 2000.
Acknowledgments
I’D LIKE TO THANK PETE HARRIS AND ALLI DYER OF TEMPLE Hill Publishing, my partners in fictional crime for this project, as well as Erika Tsang, my amazing editor, who puts up with my tornado brain that is always leaving new ideas in her inbox (even when I’m late with another project, lol). Lucienne Diver, my agent, who always has my back and keeps me on track. Pam Jaffee, Imani Gary, Nicole Fischer, and everyone on the HarperCollins staff who made this book possible. Special thanks to Laura Cherkas, my copyeditor, and Jeanie Lee, my production editor; their work was invaluable to this book.
I would also like to thank Suzanne Spellen, whose work popped up again and again as I researched this book, and who was kind enough to speak with me about Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy history. As with so many of my books, I’m truly indebted to the hard work and detective work of historians, especially those who center people often left off the pages of textbooks.
I’d also like to thank Rebekah Weatherspoon, Janet Eckford, Bree Bridges, and Donna Herren for chat group support—Janet, especially, for being the book’s earliest reader and hype person.
Finally, I’d like to thank my parents for their love and support, and also for their stories and for encouraging mine.
About the Author
ALYSSA COLE is an award-winning author of historical, contemporary, and sci-fi romance. Her contemporary rom-com A Princess in Theory was one of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of 2018, and her books have received critical acclaim from Library Journal, the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Jezebel, Vulture, Book Riot, and various other outlets. When she’s not working, she can usually be found watching anime with her husband or wrangling her many pets.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
RUNAWAY ROYALS
How to Catch a Queen
RELUCTANT ROYALS
A Princess in Theory
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy (novella)
A Duke by Default
Can’t Escape Love (novella)
A Prince on Paper
THE LOYAL LEAGUE
An Extraordinary Union
A Hope Divided
An Unconditional Freedom
OFF THE GRID
Radio Silence
Signal Boost
Mixed Signals
OTHER WORKS
That Could Be Enough
Let Us Dream
Let It Shine
Be Not Afraid
Agnes Moor’s Wild Knight
Eagle’s Heart
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Nadine Badalaty
Cover photographs © byllwill/E+/Getty Images (brownstone); © Plus69/iStock/Getty Images (plants)
FIRST EDITION
Unless otherwise indicated below, emojis here, here, here, and here © FOS_ICON / Shutterstock, Inc.
Woman-saying-no emoji here © weberjake / Shutterstock, Inc.
Teen-girl-face and horse-riding emojis here © weberjake / Shutterstock, Inc.
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Water-gun and skull emojis here © ASAG Studio / Shutterstock, Inc.
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Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-298266-7
Version 07212020
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-298265-0
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