The Queen of Harlem

An African American Breakfast at Tiffany’s–a hip refreshingly candid tale of identity and self—discovery from the critically acclaimed author of The View from Here and Walking Through Mirrors.. Mason Randolph a black preppie of impeccable Southern pedigree is bound for Stanford Law School after graduating from college. Before embarking on the path to his golden future however he takes a detour through Harlem where he intends to live authentically with real black people. Mason takes the name Malik and moves into the orbit of the ever—fabulous Carmen uptown diva and doyenne of Harlem. Carmen always ready to have a handsome young man at her fabulous soirees and to add to her devoted entourage happily takes him under her wing. Fueled by his parents' money and dodging the people who remember him as Mason Randolph Malik masquerades as a ghettonian exploring the wonders and pleasures of a Harlem in the midst of a second Renaissance. But his odyssey takes a different turn when he meets Kyra whose world mirrors the one he has abandoned. As he contemplates the choices Kyra has made and begins to reexamine his own presumptions about identity and authenticity Mason realizes that everyone has something to hide and that to get what we want we have to be willing to let go of our secrets.People compared Brian Keith Jackson's remarkable first novel The View from Here to the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison and Publishers Weekly called it an extraordinary debut...[by] a formidable craftsman and exceptionally gifted storyteller. A novel rich in humor and insight The Queen of Harlem will earn Jackson a much—deserved place in the center of today’s literary landscape.