The Rib King: A Novel

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“Ultimately the
reason to read The Rib King is not its timeliness or its insight into politics
or Black culture, but because it accomplishes what the best fiction sets out to
do: It drops you into a world you could not otherwise visit and makes you care
deeply about what happens there.”--BookPage (starred review)

The acclaimed author
of The Talented Ribkins deconstructs painful African American stereotypes and
offers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition,
exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven and
masterfully executed historical novel, set in early the twentieth century that
centers around the black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class white
family.

For fifteen years
August Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do white family who
plucked him from an orphan asylum and gave him a job. The groundskeeper is part
of the household’s all-black staff, along with “Miss Mamie,” the talented cook,
pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices—the latest
orphan boys Mr. Barclay has taken in to "civilize" boys like August.

But the Barclays
fortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospective
business associate proposes selling Miss Mamie’s delicious rib sauce to local
markets under the brand name “The Rib King”—using a caricature of a wildly
grinning August on the label—Mr. Barclay, desperate for cash, agrees. Yet
neither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. Humiliated, August grows
increasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shocking
tragedy.

Elegantly written and
exhaustively researched, The Rib King is an unsparing examination of America’s
fascination with black iconography and exploitation that redefines African
American stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timely
novel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, who
and what they are not.

_{"Finely written and worth a second read, this novel would be a fantastic choice for book discussion groups. With complete faithfulness to the text, it could also make an excellent movie."} - Library Journal (starred review)

"Hubbard’s latest cements her status as an American original." - Publishers Weekly

"The novel goes far beyond a story of revenge. It is an engrossing account of Black genius and entrepreneurship in the early 20th century." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One of 2021's Best Fiction - Kirkus Reviews

“Hubbard delivers a dazzling tour-de-force in this richly painted, perfectly timed meditation on privilege and fury.” - Booklist (starred review)

“One will be impressed at all times with Hubbard’s control over her historical milieu as well as her complicated, intriguing characterizations. . . . An imaginative work craftily depicting the failure of imagination that is American racism.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Ladee Hubbard’s sophomore novel, The Rib King, is a fascinating story about the intersection of ambition, race and revenge. . . Hubbard crafts unforgettable characters and masterfully builds suspense.” - Washington Post

“Hubbard’s own superpower is her gift for building extraordinary worlds that examine troubled periods of America’s past while shedding light on the unquestionable innovation and determination of African Americans who, perhaps improbably, thrived within them.” - Los Angeles Times