Altomease Kennedy

Friends and Lovers in Black and White: a Novel Altomease Kennedy

The 60s and 70s were a time of racial turmoil, political unrest, sexual freedom and the rise of feminism. This debut novel asks the question, "Do black and white people want to be friends?" The answer is provided by following the lives of three women from different worlds who meet in college in 1965 and struggle to move beyond the strictures of their insular childhoods and try to create a new world where they can have it all: friends, lovers and careers. Jennifer, a middle class, black girl from Detroit feels compelled to carry the mantle of the race by becoming one of the "first blacks" on campus. Her roommate, Leslie, hails from Scarsdale and dreams of becoming a journalist while her mother hopes for a Jewish doctor son-in-law. Paige rejects her "old money" Greenwich and Palm Beach pedigree and becomes a radical hippie. You will laugh, cry, and sometimes feel angry as they discover themselves, each other and share the joys and heartache of deciding who to love, when to love and how to love.