Perhaps that is because that was my first introduction to the intimate looks at the darker nation. But I wasn't quite as blown away by it as I was by the Emperor of Ocean Park. So, you can see I was READY for this book. Rah Rah (this, you might note later, has some significance - remember the rah rah). Devastated I tried to fully understand, but that tricky dream logic had me, and I awoke needing to call the book store immediately. Carter informed me (smiling sympathetically) that she had 'repossessed' the book, that she had to rewrite it. American woman - confusing of course, but in my eagerness to compliment him/her on 'their' previous work I paused not. I was looking so forward to the release of this book, that one Sunday afternoon while napping, Stephen L. Relentlessly suspenseful, galvanizing in its exploration of the profound difference between allegiance to ideas and to people, New England White is a resounding confirmation of Stephen Carter's gifts as a writer of fiction.Ī thoroughly satisfactory read - delicious, actually

The meeting point of these connections forms the core of a mystery that deepens even as Julia closes in on the politically earth-shattering motive behind the murder. Julia was the murdered man's lover years ago. Lemaster is an old friend of the president of the United States. At the center: Lemaster Carlyle, the university president, and his wife, Julia Carlyle, a deputy dean at the divinity school-African Americans living in the heart of whiteness. Carter returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor, where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town's past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence. Now, with the same powers of observation, and the same richness of plot and character, Stephen L. When The Emperor of Ocean Park was published, Time Out declared: Carter does for members of the contemporary black upper class what Henry James did for Washington Square society, taking us into their drawing rooms and laying their motives bare. A rip-roaring entertainment-The Boston Globe). The eagerly awaited, electrifying new novel from the author of The Emperor of Ocean Park (Among the most remarkable fiction debuts in recent years.

New England White by Stephen L. Carter