"Riveting . . . Searing and expertly imagined." (Toni Morrison)

Sugar, Bernice L. McFadden's bestselling debut novel, was hailed by critics and fellow authors alike. Ebony called it "unforgettable . . . unique . . . a haunting story that keeps the pages turning until the end." Terry McMillan praised it as "one of the most compelling and thought-provoking novels I've read in years." Now this Blackboard award-winning author returns to the Brooklyn of her childhood with The Warmest December.

For Kenzie, growing up in the Lowe home means opening the bottom drawer of her father's dresser to choose which belt she will be whipped with that night, furtive trips to the Bee Hive Liquor store for her father's vodka, and dreaming of the day she can escape apartment A5.

Buoyed by the lyrical, redemptive voice that distinguished Bernice L. McFadden's earlier novel, The Warmest December tells the powerful, deeply moving story of one family and the alcoholism and abuse that marked all of their lives. Moving fluidly between the past and the present-as the adult Kenzie visits the bedside of her dying father-it is an ultimately cathartic tale of hope, healing, and forgiveness.

"Bernice L. McFadden has proven she knows how to tell a story with insight and clarity . . . McFadden's prose is lyrical." (USA Today)