All-Bright Court

Set in a colorfully painted but crumbling housing project near a Buffalo, New York, steel mill, this "novel full of wisdom, grace and poetry" (Newsday) traces two decades in the lives of the project's residents. At the heart of this collective portrait is the Taylor family: Sam, Mary Kate, and their five children. For the Taylors and their neighbors, this is a time of tremendous optimism. The oldest boy, Mikey, shows special promise at school. Sam eats alongside his white coworkers at the local diner after his shift in the mill's inferno. The door to the white world seems to be opening. But time fades optimism: the steel industry falters, men lose their jobs. Mikey learns to distrust hope. The miracle of this heartbreaking story is its warmth in the face of tragic disappointment. All-Bright Court illuminates the dignity, faith, and humor that enable people to endure a world bound by devastating reality.

"Porter has mapped a rich fictional world . . . This is a powerful and affecting debut," The New York Times

"Magical . . . exquisite detail, accurate dialogue." -- Terry McMillan

"A seamless story of disparate but parallel lives." The Chicago Tribune