The Justice Women: A Novel Of Life In Detroit's Black Bottom - Paperback

by Dara Harper (Author)

EXCERPT: Years ago, when Black Friday wiped out the world around her and faces of every shade lined up at soup kitchens, Lucille feasted on catfish, roast beef and ham too! In her line of work, her customers just couldn't afford to make do without her. She demanded full price and they paid without protest. No one was better than Lucille and everybody knew it, just as sure as they knew the lyrics to Lady Day's, "God Bless The Child." Lucille was thankful for fornication because it kept her in business. She didn't mind profiting from the desires of others, but expressing her own passion had always been like swimming against the current. Lucille had never felt that glow inside. She recognized it in other women who smiled with their whole bodies and blushed at the mention of their lover's name. But Lucille knew that some women went their whole lives without any glow at all and she accepted her fate as one of them. BOOK DESCRIPTION: At the age of seventeen, Lucille Justice marries a man who she has only known for six weeks. She is so anxious to flee her miserable family life and the Jim Crow south that love isn't even a consideration before she says, "I do." Her husband brings her to Detroit, a hopeful place where skin color doesn't dictate one's destiny. At least that's what Lucille believes when she patronizes integrated establishments. But she is disheartened to discover that life above the Mason-Dixon line is fraught with racial tension. Lucille's dark skin also causes her to experience prejudice within her race. Twenty years later, Lucille is alone in the cold city overflowing with people. Her husband is gone and she lives in the slums of Black Bottom. Lucille's official title is "midwife," but she rarely delivers babies anymore. Expectant mothers come to her for abortions because no woman has ever lost her life in Lucille's hands. Folks don't mind her soaking up their sins, but they don't want her around when it's time to sing the Lord's praises. Lucille meets Ludka Nowicki, a Polish immigrant who works in the world's oldest profession and Norma Jo Johnson, a drifter who recklessly challenges racial and gender norms. In "The Justice Women," the lives of the three women intertwine. On the eve of the 1943 race riots, a remarkable event brings Lucille closer to love and redemption.