Silenced [Paperback]

One of the hottest new writers in urban fiction, award-winning author Kia DuPree has been hailed for her heart-wrenching storytelling and unforgettable characters. Now she takes you to Washington, D.C.'s most notorious neighborhood, where a young woman has one chance to escape-and too many ways to lose . . .

SILENCED

She gets lost in the fantasy of books and poetry. But in Tinka Hampton's all-too-real world, her mother Nicola has lost her job and is struggling to stop her family's fall into poverty. With her sons turning to drug dealing-and worse-Nicola wants better things for her daughter. Yet the more pressure she puts on Tinka to do everything right, the more she drives her away . . . straight into the arms of Nine, a man as irresistible as he is lethal. Now Nicola must make unimaginable choices that will put Tinka at a dangerous crossroads. Will standing up for her seemingly impossible dreams be her way out-or will they trap her on D.C.'s merciless streets forever?Kia, a native of Washington, D.C., holds a B.A. in Mass Media Arts from Hampton University, as well as an M.A. in English from Old Dominion University. She received a Professional Studies Publishing Certificate from New York University in 2006. She is currently teaching middle school and lives with her husband and son in the DC area. This is a powerful family drama as Kia Dupree provides profound insight into the other side of living in DC. The cast is fully developed especially the Hampton brood whose life in the projects comes across as perilous while also emotionally wringing. Rotating perspective between mother and daughter, Silenced is a raw deep look at surviving the mean streets of a Washington in which politicians prefer to pretend it does not exist. Harriet Klausner on SILENCED DuPree's knack for dialogue and her insight and compassion for her characters inspire the reader's empathy-an outstanding achievement. Publishers Weeklyon SIló‡