Sister, Sister

One of the most intuitive and hilarious new voices in African-American fiction, Eric Jerome Dickey crosses the gender line to meet Waiting to Exhale head-on. Sister, Sister is his sexy, funny, and scathingly realistic novel about sisters in today's L.A. - and the brothers who think they have them all figured out. Not yet thirty, perky, pretty Valerie, aka "Red," dropped out of college, cut her hair, and played at being the perfect housewife just to please her husband, Walter. His pro football career has gone nowhere; and he's got an attitude - it's all Valerie's fault. Valerie is standing by her man, although most of the time Walter parks himself in front of the TV. She wants to fight for her marriage. But another contender has entered the ring. His name is Daniel, and he wants to have an affair. Valerie's social worker sister, Inda (that's Linda without the L), has a different problem. His name is Raymond. He's got a great body, smooth moves, sweet talk - and another girlfriend on the side. Things are about to get down and dirty when Inda comes face-to-face with the "other woman.". Chiquita is an airline flight attendant having a long-distance relationship with a great guy - a great guy except he just smacked her. He says it was an accident. She tells him to hit the road. The antidote for her broken heart may be Thaddeus, Inda and Valerie's brother. So why is Chiquita about to turn down this good man for a bad one? The answer lies back in Memphis, and no jet plane can fly fast enough to keep the past from catching up to her. Now these sisters' lives and loves are coming together in Los Angeles, where getting it on and getting it together seem like irreconcilable differences.