[The Crawford Affair 01] • The Crawford Affair

Lavish casino parties, extravagant archery meets, and power-What more could a man want? Everything. Crawford Manor, home of West Umpton's premier African-American family, was once a festive place, a social center, but is now a hollow home where Horatio Crawford, his son-in-law, and his three grandchildren live their very separate lives. However, the change in season stirs desires and longings when Horatio announces that the entire summer will be dedicated to memorializing his daughter. In order to enliven the halls, Horatio plans and executes lavish "memorial" events, but West Umpton's families are caught in a frenzy of gossip and potential scandal as the tangled affairs of love and politics ensnare them all. The Crawford Affair is a lively mix of soap opera and meditation told in limber, fluid prose. This work of art culminates into a lyrical and challenging, but ultimately rewarding, experience, where freedom and self-expression live despite conformity and judgment. For lovers of inappropriate humor, comedies of manners, Mrs. Dalloway, and diversity, The Crawford Affair may be for you. (Literary, family, romance; potentially scandalous themes and some explicit scenes/language.)