Dead Above Ground

For feisty young Lita Du Champ, New Orleans is a place dominated by her prosperous, hardworking family -- in particular, her strong-willed mother, Helen, who rules with an unshakable sense of propriety. It is also where Lita struggles to reconcile her loyalty to her mother with love for her restless, married sister Adele -- and tries to establish a life of her own in the face of crushing family responsibility. But neither she nor Mama Du Champ are prepared when Adele falls in love with Lucien Faure, a smooth operator with "the devil's good looks" -- and a decades-old score to settle with Helen. As Lucien's revenge is set into terrible motion against all of the Du Champs, Lita uncovers her mother's mysterious past and the dark secrets that drive her: Lucien could possibly be Adele's father. From the forbidden elegance and wealth of the Vieux Carre through New Orleans' most sinister backstreets, Lita must confront her family's history in ways she never imagined -- and find one last, desperate chance to save the future of those she loves. Hailed as "a powerful new voice in American fiction" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.), Jervey Tervalon has drawn from his own heritage -- and the twisting family story that has lived and breathed in him his whole life -- to create a rich and unforgettable novel in DEAD ABOVE GROUND.