Uptown: A Novel - Softcover

DeBerry, Virginia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439137765 ISBN 13: 9781439137765

Publisher: Touchstone, 2010

Synopsis

ENTER THE WORLD OF UPTOWN

Uptown . . . where money rules
Uptown . . . where ambition trumps tradition
Uptown . . . where politics come before everything
Uptown . . . where a family’s secrets will bring them together—or down

After twenty years away, Avery Lyons returns to New York when her mother and uncle suffer a serious car accident. The tragedy brings the family together, but Avery is not happy about the impromptu reunion. She no longer recognizes the Harlem of her childhood, but the same old family dynamics and secrets are all too familiar . . .

Heir to a real estate empire, Dwight is willing to do anything to realize his aging and demanding father’s dream: Dixon Plaza, a luxury high-rise development on Central Park North that will change the face of Harlem forever. There’s only one thing in his way: his cousin Avery has inherited a share of the property. She’s more than willing to sell until a reporter uncovers the truth behind the rumored shady dealings . . .

In Uptown a prominent Harlem family is strained to the breaking point by the high-stakes world of the Manhattan real estate industry, and one woman searches for her identity and the will to forgive. Steamy, provocative, and sexy, Uptown is a turbulent and triumphant read.

About this title

From the Author

Virginia DeBerry was a successful plus-size model, former Vice President of BB/LW modeling agency and served as editor-in-chief of Maxima magazine before becoming a novelist. DeBerry is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo. She currently resides in central New Jersey.

Donna Grant spent more than a decade as a model for catalogs and advertisements. Grant has been featured on the pages of Essence, McCalls, Family Circle, and Woman's Day, as well as appeared on Good Morning America, and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. Grant served as the Managing Editor of Maxima before her writing career. A Brooklyn native, she is a graduate of New York University and still lives in the borough with her husband.

From Publishers Weekly

DeBerry and Grant (Exposures) continue both their ongoing love affair with Harlem and the story of the Dixon real estate empire in this smart and compelling tale of how selfishness and avarice can destroy a family's work and reputation. Dwight Dixon takes the reins from his elderly father, King Dixon, moving the family real estate holdings to the big-time New York stage with the development of Dixon Plaza on Central Park North, a controversial development aimed at transforming Harlem. But problems abound: defective Chinese drywall, cheap fixtures and myriad changes to the project. Then Dwight's cousin, Avery Lyons, returns to tend to the affairs of her dead mother and an uneasy and disturbing past is revealed that causes the empire to crumble. DeBerry and Grant capture timely and increasingly universal themes with this dramatic, epic and often tragic story of triumph and failure. New York and Harlem come alive and the occasional stereotypical characters and a few contrived situations are minor quibbles with a novel that is both relevant and entertaining (Mar.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1439137765
• ISBN 13: 9781439137765
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 331