The Warmest December — Bernice L. McFadden

The long-awaited reissue of McFadden's best-selling second novel praised by Toni Morrison, USA Today, Washington Post, and others -- published simultaneously with McFadden's new novel Gathering of Waters.

“McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction.” -- Publishers Weekly


“Riveting . . . so nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes.” -- Toni Morrison, author of Beloved

For Kenzie, growing up in the Lowe household means opening the bottom drawer of her father's dresser to choose which belt she'll be whipped with that night, furtive trips to the Bee Hive liquor store for her father's vodka, and dreaming of the day she can escape apartment 5A.


Buoyed by the lyrical, redemptive voice that characterizes McFadden's writing, The Warmest December tells the powerful, deeply moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism and abuse that marked the years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, the story moves fluidly between the past and the present as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make. The Warmest December is ultimately a cathartic tale of hope, healing, and forgiveness.