Stories From the Tenants Downstairs (Hardback) - Sidik Fofana

Set in a Harlem high rise, a tight-knit cast of neighbours grapple with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it

Everybody got a story, everybody got a tale
Question is: Is it despair or prevail?

'Bold, funny and gloriously flawed voices of New York . . . a bravura debut' Observer

'Sidik Fofana has an acute ear and a perfect eye' Lorrie Moore, author of Bark

'Every once in a while a new writer comes along and refreshes our notions of what fiction can do . . . Buy this book, and prepare to be blasted by the brilliance inside' Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again

Banneker Terrace on 129th and Fred Doug ain't pretty, but it's home. Home to young and old, folk just trying to get by. Cookouts with beer and wings, summertime with souped-up cars bumpin music. People don't come here for the bad; they came here to make a good life.

It is home to Swan down in 6B, reconnecting with his boy Boons, just out of prison. Home to Mimi in 14D, raising Swan's child, doing hair on the side. Home to Quanneisha in 21J, longing to leave but it's where she grew up. Home to Mr Murray in 2E, who has played chess outside on the sidewalk for years. Some of the residents of Banneker have got it together, some can't make rent or pay bills, some are raising kids, some are hustling on the side, all are living.

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs expertly showcases the strengths, struggles and hopes of one Harlem community, who are grappling with the effects of gentrification alongside their own personal challenges. It captures the joy and pain of the human experience and heralds the arrival of a uniquely talented writer.

About the Author

Sidik Fofana earned an MFA from New York University. He lives with his wife and son in New York City where he is a public school teacher.