About the Book
It's that pivotal year, 1968, and Nettie Boileau, a young Haitian student in Oakland, gets caught up in the ongoing revolutionary fever. With her friend Clia Brown, she uses her public health skills to help operate the free health clinics created by the people she believes are "true revolutionaries," the Black Panthers. When she falls in love with Black Panther Party Defense Captain Melvin Mosley, their passionate love affair soon eclipses all else-her friendship with Clia and even her own sense of self.
Pregnant, Nettie follows Melvin to Chicago to help with a newly-launched Illinois chapter of the Panthers, but once there, she finds Chicago segregated, police surveillance brutal, and her faith in love eroding as Melvin becomes unfaithful. After a violent tussle with the police and the loss of their unborn child, both Nettie and Melvin are caught in the viciousness of J. Edgar Hoover's covert campaigns, and Nettie is soon on the run, desperate to find power in her roots and ultimately, to save herself.
With richly imagined, relatable characters, Kingdom of No Tomorrow tells a story of Black love, self-determination, and the importance of revolution in the midst of injustice.
About the Author :
Fabienne Josaphat was born and raised in Haiti, and graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. Of her first novel, Dancing in the Baron's Shadow published with Unnamed Press, Edwidge Danticat said, "Filled with life, suspense, and humor, this powerful first novel is an irresistible read about the nature of good and evil, terror and injustice, and ultimately triumph and love." In addition to fiction, Josaphat writes non-fiction and poetry, as well as screenplays. Her work has been featured in The African American Review, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Master's Review, Grist Journal, Damselfly, Hinchas de Poesia, Off the Coast Journal and The Caribbean Writer. Her poems have been anthologized in Eight Miami Poets, a Jai-Alai Books publication. Fabienne Josaphat lives in South Florida.
Review :
"Josaphat's pitch-perfect dialogue and pacing and scene-unraveling, make Kingdom of No Tomorrow a successful story about a young woman caught up in the eye of a political hurricane. In the best tradition of political fiction, it taps into larger questions about personal responsibility and revolutionary ardor."--New Haven Independent
"An earnest, urgent novel... [t]he tension in "Kingdom of No Tomorrow" revolves around whether there can be any future for a young woman dedicated to healing and a young warrior determined to burn the racist country down... Kingdom of No Tomorrow gave me a sense of an intense period of America's racial history that I've never felt before."--The Washington Post
"Sharply rendered"--Los Angeles Review of Books
Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize An NPR Book of the Day
Named a Most Recommended/ Anticipated Book of the Season by Amazon, Goodreads, Ebony, Ms. Magazine, Chicago Review of Books, and Alta
"An emotional testament to the power of sisterhood."--BookReporter.com
"Muscular, searing... Fabienne Josaphat fixes her lens on the late 1960s, a time of turmoil and transformation for Black people the world over... Tracking the political and romantic awakening of 20-year-old Nettie, a Black public health student who becomes increasingly entangled in a radical arm of the movement as she falls for one of its leaders, Josaphat erects a kind of love triangle as a scaffolding for the novel's central concerns. Amid revolution, how do you reconcile private needs with public struggle?... Josaphat delivers a novel for our times."--New York Times Book Review
"With soaring language and impeccable historical research, Josaphat captures the rhetoric and hyperbole of the time... Josaphat's vivid, bracing novel reveals the collateral damage of violent social change while reminding us that a better, more peaceful world is possible."--Los Angeles Times
"This beautifully convincing slice of history is powered not just by good research, but by lots of suspense, compelling characters, and understated political themes that broke my heart because of how timely they remain. Kingdom of No Tomorrow will bring the fierce vision of the Black Panthers to new generations of readers, adding some stunning context to the modern Black Lives Matter movement."--Barbara Kingsolver, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Demon Copperhead
"A new classic in the literature of Black liberation...a vivid imagining of how young people -- still growing, still grappling with their vulnerabilities -- faced the challenges of a world on fire....Josaphat's characters are vibrantly complicated and written with the special care required to honor those who became ancestors at an incredibly young age....The narrative propels forward with the momentum of a film..."Kingdom of No Tomorrow" is more than a novel. It's a mirror. A map. A call to remember. For anyone interested in liberation, community and the cost of both, it's a compelling tale worthy of our grateful, close reading."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Praise for Dancing in the Baron's Shadow: "Fabienne Josaphat impressively brings to life a horrible period as well as the men and women who fought against it. Filled with life, suspense, and humor, this powerful first novel is an irresistible read about the nature of good and evil, terror and injustice, and ultimately triumph and love."
--Edwidge Danticat, author of Claire of Sea Light
"Josaphat fills the pages with vivid depictions of historical figures... and explores the stark reality of what it was like for the Black Panthers to live under the constant threat of infiltration and violence from law enforcement. This dynamic and layered novel offers much to admire."--Publishers Weekly
"Fabienne Josaphat has written a moving and gorgeous exploration of one young woman's awakening. Deftly traced and deeply moving, this novel is for anyone who has done the hard work of seeking truth and beauty in an unjust world. Josaphat has created an unforgettable heroine, a captivating voice that illuminates questions of justice, history and self."
--Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie
"With her timely and urgent novel, and through the eyes, heart, and soul of Nettie, we are brought front and center into the world of the Panthers, and how they struggled to bring the Black community into a place where justice was possible. Kingdom of No Tomorrow is ambitious in scope and brave in execution. "Nettie had grown accustomed to the kind of darkness the human eye couldn't recognize," the novel begins, but there is also lightness and hope. Nettie is a character to cheer for, and her struggles remain relevant in the chaos and upheaval we are living through today."
--Naomi Benaron, author of PEN/Bellwether winner Running the Rift
