<DIV>"Strong and folksy storytelling...think <b>Zora Neale Hurston</b>...<b>Sugar</b> speaks of what is real." --<b>The Dallas Morning News</b> <p> From an exciting new voice in African-American contemporary fiction comes a novel <b>Ebony</b> praised for its "unforgettable images, unique characters, and moving story that keeps the pages turning until the end." <b>The Chicago Defender</b> calls <b>Sugar</b> "a literary explosion...McFadden reveals amazing talent." The novel opens when a young prostitute comes to Bigelow, Arkansas, to start over, far from her haunting past. Sugar moves next door to Pearl, who is still grieving for the daughter who was murdered fifteen years before. Over sweet-potato pie, an unlikely friendship begins, transforming both women's lives--and the life of an entire town. <p> Sugar brings a Southern African-American town vividly to life, with its flowering magnolia trees, lingering scents of jasmine and honeysuckle, and white picket fences that keep strangers out--but ignorance and superstition in. To read this novel is to take a journey through loss and suffering to a place of forgiveness, understanding, and grace.</DIV>