This first novel is set in Durham, North Carolina, on the eve of integration. Sirus McDougald is a family man, bank president, and pillar of a small, middle-class black community. When he loses his beloved daughter, he is forced to come to terms with several uncomfortable aspects of his life: the deterioration of his marriage, the uneasy coexistence of the black and white communities in Durham, and changes in several longtime friendships. Besieged by grief and self-doubt, Sirus must somehow find the strength to protect his close-knit community from opportunistic white investors. In this hauntingly beautiful portrayal of love and loss, Parker brings to life a community in all its vivid multiplicity of detail. The tale is peopled by exquisitely drawn characters. Highly recommended.-- Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Parker's novel re-creates an almost-forgotten world: the strictly segregated but largely self-sufficient African American community in a southern city in the years just after World War II. The Hay-Ti section of Durham, North Carolina, relies on banker and builder Sirus MacDougald for his leadership, strength, and wisdom. But when Downtown Durham offers to invest in a Hay-Ti housing development and the community splits along lines of profit and loss, MacDougald--overwhelmed with grief at the death of his young daughter Mattie, and unable to connect with his devastated wife, Aileen, in their shared pain--is unable to bring his neighbors together. In her first novel, Parker, who was a Wall Street lawyer and marketing manager before she decided to concentrate on writing, constructs a complex microcosm populated by vivid and believable characters.
