Like
a Sister, by Kellye Garrett.
Black woman Lena Scott lives in the Bronx in an apartment left to her by her beloved paternal grandmother. She is a self-supporting Columbia college Graduate student and is justly proud of her independence, especially as her father is a fabulously rich Music Producer, estranged from her life since he left her mother for his secretary when Lena was a child. The only good thing that came out of that union, as far as Lena is concerned, is her friendship with her half-sister Desiree, commenced when they both stayed for school vacations with her Gram: what great times they shared then – nothing would ever happen to break their bond.
Until, by a series of happy coincidences, grown-up Spoilt
Little Rich Girl Desiree became a reality TV star and fame started going to her
head - and up her nose. And Lena is not
the sort of person to stand silently by while her sister slowly destroys
herself. She issues an ultimatum: carry
on the self-destruction and their relationship is finished. A challenge that Desiree accepts; who needs a
Holier-Than-Thou Smart-Ass stopping Gals Who Just Wanna Have Fun?
Two years of silence have passed when Lena finds out from
a newspaper report that her sister has been found dead in a Bronx playground, partly-clad,
all evidence pointing to an accidental drug overdose. Which rings alarm bells right away, for
Desiree would never venture to the
Bronx; nor had she graduated to
heroin-use, as the paper stated. Lena,
battling with her grief and anger is certain that Desiree had been coming to
the Bronx to see her for a particular
reason, whatever that may have been, and she is stunned at the police lack of
interest in investigating further, and her powerful father’s wish to have the
matter cleared-up and out of the news as soon as possible.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH
EVERYONE?
The more Lena delves, the more rabbit-holes she has to
investigate, especially with regard to Desiree’s new Bestie Erin, a white girl
who ‘loved Desiree like a sister’: oh
yeah? That’s kind of hard-to-swallow,
especially as everyday racist experience for Black people, but Lena knows
Desiree has been murdered- she knows. But how to find the proof without suffering
the same fate? For Lena’s efforts at
digging have not gone unnoticed.
Kellye Garrett is a smart, funny writer and she has given
us a perfectly-plotted, beautifully characterised tale of today’s Instagram age
and our scary dependence on Social Media and all its forms – and Racism in its
many forms, not to lecture but as fact, as part of the everyday fabric of so
many lives. Thank you, Ms Garrett. SIX STARS
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