New York Times best-selling author Sister Souljah today (Tuesday, October 10) releases the fifth installment of her Coldest Winter Ever series: A Moment of Silence MIDNIGHT III.
A Moment of Silence MIDNIGHT III is the third novel penned by the Hip Hop author, activist, artist and producer focusing on the character of Midnight, introduced to fans in the original novel as the unrequited love interest of Winter Santiaga. The first two Midnight-centered novels were raw and emotional, reflecting on the challenges young men of color in the inner city face daily. This third installment is no different, and is greatly needed during a time where race-centered tragedies regularly make front page news.
According to Simon and Schuster, the book’s premise is one of cultural differences, relationship breakdowns, ultimate hope and more.
Handsome, young, Muslim, and married to two women living in one house along with his mother, Umma, and sister, Naja: can Midnight manage? He is surrounded by Americans who don’t share or understand his faith or culture, and adults who are offended by his maturity, intelligence, or his natural ability to make his hard work turn into real money. He is calm, confident, and cool, Ninja-trained and powerful, but one moment of rage throws this Brooklyn youth into a dark world of dirty police, gangs, guns, drugs, prisons, and prisoners. Everything he ever believed, every dollar he ever earned, and all of the women he ever loved—including his mother—are at risk.
Will his manhood be taken, broken, or altered? Can he maintain his faith among the heathens? Outnumbered, overruled, and deeply envied—how can he possibly survive? Will the streets convert him? What can he keep? What must he lose?
Sister Souljah changed the game with The Coldest Winter Ever, an instant street classic when it was released in 1999. Unlike any other book many of us had ever read, it was gritty, unapologetic and real. It wasn’t your typical “coming of age” novel in the mainstream opinion, but many of us knew and understood the tragedies that befell the “fly girls” of the neighborhood. Each installment to the series proved timeless from the various angles the stories were told from, and A Moment of Silence is no different.
In a recent interview with Ebony, Sister Souljah touched on what especially women readers will gain from the book. “After reading MIDNIGHT, women will crave an intense and powerful love. We will each understand that love is sweet, laughter, living well, and sharing and working and building and praying with someone who you can trust because he’s trustworthy. After reading MIDNIGHT, we will each know and want a man, not a clown.”
