Queenie: Godmother of Harlem

(Hardback)

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A historical graphic novel inspired by the life of Harlem's legendary mobster, Stephanie Saint-ClairQueenie follows the life of Stephanie Saint-Clairthe infamous criminal who made herself a legend in Harlem in the 1930s. Born on a plantation in the French colony of Martinique, Saint-Clair left the island in 1912 and headed for the United States, eager to make a new life for herself. In New York she found success, rising up through poverty and battling extreme racism to become the ruthless queen of Harlems mafia and a fierce defender of the Black community. A racketeer and a bootlegger, Saint-Clair dedicated her wealth and compassion to the struggling masses of Harlem, giving loans and paying debts to those around her. But with Prohibition ending, and under threat by Italian mobsters seeking to take control of her operation, she launched a merciless war to save her territory and her skin. In an America still swollen by depression and segregation, Saint-Clair understood that her image was a tool she could use to establish her power and wield as a weapon against her opponents. Author Aurelie Levy and illustrator Elizabeth Colombas meticulous detailsin both story and artbring Saint-Clairs story to life in a tense narrative, against a sometimes bloody backdrop of jazz and voodoo. The story tackles the themes of colonization, corruption, police violence, and racial identity, but above all, Queenie celebrates the genius of a woman forgotten by history.

Reviews

**STARRED REVIEW** "This smart, sure-footed biography belongs on every history aficionado's shelf." --Publishers Weekly--Publishers Weekly

"A dazzling, gripping, masterfully illustrated graphic novel that commands your attention from the first page! It's a remarkable true story about a character who's larger than life." --Regina King

--Regina King
"I've been an admirer of Elizabeth Colomba's work for a while now. Her work is a vision of history and in particular herstory, which is often left out and left behind for being too clear, too beautiful, too interesting, too horrific . . . I'm excited to see she poured her talent into a new form of storytelling. Queenie: Godmother of Harlem is her new graphic novel where she brings back to life a powerful Black woman erased by history. It's original, entertaining, riveting, moving. A beautiful piece of art, a must read!" --Whoopi Goldberg--Whoopi Goldberg

Author Bio

Aurelie Levy is a French writer and director. Born and raised in Paris, she went on to study Japanese history and film at the prestigious ICU in Tokyo. She then pursued her film and history education at UCLA in Los Angeles, where she learned the ropes of the film industry and was projected into the motley universe of actor and activist. In 2007 she directed her first documentary and subsequently collaborated with Anthony Bourdain on two episodes of his infamous program No Reservations. For the past three years, Levy has been following a group of young photographers around the world for the documentary series Off the Grid. She is based in Paris. Elizabeth Colomba is an artist of Martinique descent, born and raised in France, now living in New York City. After receiving her degree in applied arts in Paris, she continued her studies in Los Angeles, where she pursued painting while working on feature films. Depicting stories featuring Black characters, Colomba analyzes the construction of identity and the tangled relationships between past, present, and future in the Black collective identity.