During the 1970s, Verdi’s relationship with street-smart Johnson leads her to heroin and the brink of destruction. Rescued by a conservative professor willing to give up everything for her, she lives a quiet, comfortable life for 20 years–until Johnson returns to re-ignite old passions. Pulled uncontrollably toward the reckless appetites of her youth, Verdi struggles to understand her desires and to decide where she wants life to take her next. Best-selling author Diane McKinney-Whetstone fills this lush, lyrical novel with the steamy intensity of great jazz music. Myra Lucretia Taylor adds a rich, rhythmic voice to Verdi’s dangerous, intoxicating, and utterly unforgettable dance of self-discovery.

Diane McKinney-Whetstone’s nationally bestselling novel, Tumbling, immersed us into Philadelphia’s black community during the Civil Rights era, and she returns to the city in this new historical novel about a cast of nineteenth-century characters whose colorful lives intersect at the legendary Lazaretto–America’s first quarantine hospital.

Isolated on an island where two rivers meet, the Lazaretto quarantine hospital is the first stop for immigrants who wish to begin new lives in Philadelphia. The Lazaretto’s black live-in staff forge a strong social community, and when one of them receives permission to get married on the island the mood is one of celebration, particularly since the white staff–save the opium-addicted doctor–are given leave for the weekend. On the eve of the ceremony, a gunshot rings out across the river. A white man has fired at a boat carrying the couple’s friends and family to the island, and the captain is injured. His life lies in the hands of Sylvia, the Lazaretto’s head nurse, who is shocked to realize she knows the patient.

Intertwined with the drama unfolding at the Lazaretto are the fates of orphan brothers. When one brother commits a crime to protect the other, he imperils both of their lives–and the consequences ultimately deliver both of them to the Lazaretto.

In this masterful work of historical fiction, Diane McKinney-Whetstone seamlessly transports us to Philadelphia in the aftermath of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, beautifully evoking powerful stories of love, friendship and humanity amid the vibrant black community that flourished amid the troubled times.

Best-selling author Diane McKinney-Whetstone has won such prizes as the Zora Neale Hurston Society award for creative contribution to literature. Set in 1969, Leaving Cecil Street takes place in a proud neighborhood of West Philadelphia. The block has just thrown a summertime street party. Joe and Louise have been married for awhile, and Joe loves his wife. But sometimes he wonders what might have been if he had pursued some of those dreams he left behind. “Diane McKinney-Whetstone is an immensely gifted writer who seamlessly weaves a rich tapestry of desire and discontent in this engrossing tale of working-class Philadelphians coping with change and each other.”-Essence

“Our Gen is warm and smart, accessible yet meaningful, a beach read with strong writing and emotional heft.”–BookPage

Residents of an active-living retirement community revert to lives of youthful indulgence, even as time-bomb secrets of their pasts tick toward explosion.

The Gen–short for Sexagenarian–is an upscale fifty-five-plus community located in the bucolic suburbs of Philadelphia. Main character Cynthia befriends the Gen’s two other Black residents, Bloc and Tish, as well as Lavia, who everyone assumes is from India. They regularly convene to smoke weed, line dance, and debate politics and philosophy as the wine goes down like silk. Their camaraderie is exhilarating.

But beneath the fun and froth, storms gather. With its walls of windows gushing light and air, the Gen becomes the catalyst for secrets to be exposed.

Shifting the narrative between the characters’ pasts and the present day, Diane McKinney-Whetstone deftly builds suspense as she captures with insight, poignancy, and humor, the scars, tenderness, and swagger of those not yet old, but no longer young, coming to the mean acceptance that life is finite after all, who knew.

Award-winning author of the national best-seller Tumbling, Diane McKinney-Whetstone is an immensely talented author of African American fiction. It is 1965 in Philadelphia and Clarise, Finch, and their three adolescent daughters are living a financially privileged life. But when Finch’s business falls on hard times and Clarise suffers a mental breakdown, their idyllic world is shattered and their daughters are endangered.

Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight-an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena’s mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps. “[A] poignant, multigenerational story . An achingly tender portrait of familial love and pain.”-Booklist

Tumbling is a national best-seller from an exhilarating new voice in African-American fiction. Set in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 50s, this emotionally inspiring story revolves around Noon and Herbie, a couple with more than a few obstacles to overcome. They raise two girls left on their doorstep, struggle to keep their unconsummated marriage alive, and fight to save their urban neighborhood from development. Both Noon and Herbie have secrets. Because of this she can’t be intimate with her husband, and he sneaks out to a hot jazz singer named Ethel–who has a secret of her own. When the city proposes to build a road through their neighborhood, Noon begins a crusade to keep it from happening–and maybe save her marriage in the process. Tumble into this amazing novel and feel the love and warmth of a special block in South Philly. This is an extraordinary depiction of the true meaning of family and fellowship, with a realistic mix of both joy and sorrow.