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Satin Doll: A Novel
 
 
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Satin Doll: A Novel [Hardcover]

Karen E. Quinones Miller (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (112 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 11, 2001

Bang! Being shot in the middle of the night and left for dead is what it took to open her eyes. Until that fateful moment, Regina Harris lived la vida loca with pimps and hustlers, a gangster lifestyle that supplied the money she needed to get high and forget the poverty of Harlem. Now she has turned her life around, is a college graduate and freelance journalist, and makes enough money to live on the Upper West Side and hob- nob with the city's movers and shakers. She's become the classy Satin Doll of the Duke Ellington song. But she can't forget where she came from: her three best friends are from the old neighborhood.

The Harlem homegirls. Regina tries to give emotional support to each of her friends as they deal with their own personal issues: Yvonne is a single mother looking for the right man. Tamika must raise two children alone while their father does time in jail for robbery. Puddin' lives her life by picking up men and smoking weed.

Living in two worlds; comfortable in neither. On a night out partying with her homegirls in Harlem, Regina meets aspiring lawyer Charles Whitfield, son of a pro-minent, upper-class black family in Philadelphia. He loves her but not her rough-around-the-edges friends. She loves him but doesn't think she can live up to his family's expectations.

Regina tries desperately to hide her former life, but when her past is revealed, it threatens to destroy her relationship with Charles and the life she has worked hard to create.


From its dramatic beginning to the fateful ending, Satin Doll is a witty and truthful take on relationships, friendships, and class distinctions.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A major house has picked up another self-published novel, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Karen E. Quinones Miller's Satin Doll, after it hit the BlackBoard African-American bestseller list. The writing here is better and the plot more successfully imagined than most other offerings in this genre. After years of living on the edge in Harlem, Regina Harris is shot and violently beaten. She decides to change her life, attending college, getting work as a writer and finding love with Charles Whitfield, a well-bred, aspiring politician. But Regina's past, Charles's present and the class differences between the two threaten both their relationship and Charles's career.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Miller is to be commended for revising her self-published paperback for hardcover distribution. It is a marvelous tale about not letting the past define one's future. Growing up in Harlem, Regina Harris has had her share of hard luck. After her parents died, she had to grow up quickly and become the caretaker of her drug-addicted sister and infant niece. She quit school and drifted deeper into the world of crime and drug experimentation. When she becomes the victim of a shooting, her life is changed forever. Regina goes back to school and eventually begins a career as a freelance writer. She has another life-changing event when she meets a Columbia University graduate student, Charles Whitfield. Her relationship with the aspiring attorney becomes comfortable enough to finally share with him the hurdles that she has overcome. His political aspirations cause the couple to deal with the class differences between them and acknowledge her past while struggling to build a future together. Lillian Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 11, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743214331
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743214339
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (112 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,078,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author


Essence best selling and NAACP Literary Award Nominee, Karen E. Quinones Miller was born and raised in Harlem in 1958. Miller dropped out of school during the eighth grade, and spent the majority of her teenage years experiencing street life first-hand. After getting a job as a police attendant in New York City's Midtown North police precinct, Miller became friends with a number of police officers who persuaded her that the life she was living could lead to an early death.

So at age 22, Miller joined the Navy and after spending five years in the Navy, Miller married, had a child and divorced all within a two-year period. At age 29, she got a secretarial job with The Philadelphia Daily News, but after three years complaining about the paper's coverage of people living below the poverty level she quit and started taking journalism classes at Temple University.

After graduation she became a newspaper reporter, and worked for the Associated Press, The Norfolk Virginian Pilot, and lastly for The Philadelphia Inquirer where she was employed for nine years. She also worked as a correspondent for People Magazine from 1996 to 1999.
Miller wrote Satin Doll in 1999, and after many unsuccessful attempts at finding a publisher, decided to publish it herself. She sold 28,000 copies on her own, and Satin Doll wound up on the Essence Bestseller's List for two months. Publishing rights were sold to Simon & Schuster (via auction) for six figures.

Miller went on to write five other Essence Bestselling novels for Simon & Schuster, Warner Books, and Grand Central Books: I'm Telling, Using What You Got (both were main selections for Black Expressions Book Club), Ida B. (which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction.), Satin Nights and Passin'.

Best selling author Kwan Foye has often publicly referred to Miller as "The Aretha Franklin of Black Publishing." Miller, who is included in the book Literary Divas: The Top 100+ Most Admired African-American Women In Literature, often gives publishing and self-publishing seminars in her home and Philadelphia, and is the CEO of Oshun Publishing Company. Miller has been often cited for her willingness to help aspiring authors, and Essence best selling authors Daaimah S. Poole, and Miasha are just two of the young writers who consider Miller their mentor.

Miller's new book, An Angry A** Black Woman, will be published by Karen Hunter Books in 2011.

 

Customer Reviews

112 Reviews
5 star:
 (56)
4 star:
 (32)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (112 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Bright Future for Quinones Miller, February 7, 2000
By 
Rémy Martin (Springfield Gardens, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Satin Doll (Paperback)
Karen E. Quinones Miller has a bright future if she continues to create novels like this one. I really enjoyed this read. The characters were very life-like which enabled a person to relate to everything so easily. This book detailed both past and present relationships between women and how they change over time. Changes made because of experiences, the men in their lives etc, but the key is you cannot forget where you come from. This book was recommended to me by the publisher also, and I rushed to get a copy. I am glad that I did and I bet everyone else will to ! Continued Success !
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is Great Book!, January 9, 2000
By 
Danielle Flay (Detroit, Michigan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Satin Doll (Paperback)
Oh man! I mean I really loved it. The heroine in the story is someone who all women can relate to.

Regina's been hurt in her life, and she's determined to be hurt no more. I love her relationship with her girlfriends. These women stick together no matter what.

And I was really impressed with the way Regina stuck up for herself. She is not to be messed with --by man, woman or child.

Her relationship with Charles is something else. I found myself rooting for them to stay together, no matter what - even if he was a creep. He's a creep that truly loved her. And Regina showed she could handle him just as well as she deals with everyone else in the world.

The sex scenes, by the way, or something else!

I would highly recommend this book to all women. And for all men, too. Take note, brothers . . . don't let us have to pull a 'Regina' on you.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Satin Doll -- Regina is one DOLL who is not to be toyed with, December 21, 1999
By 
"pjcrafty" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Satin Doll (Paperback)
Satin Doll tells the bold story of a woman that women of color can identify with, especially if you are from the East Coast. Our Heroine REGINA uses her Heart of Gold, her Ancestral Wisdom and her Crafty Street Smarts to exact very Modern Day Revenges.

A woman after my own heart who truly believes

"Do Unto Others, Right After They Do Unto You, THEN, Tell Me How You Feel After I'm Through ! "

A must read for all of us SUPERWOMEN who lead double lives.

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
IT WAS A WARM SEPTEMBER NIGHT IN NEW YORK CITY-too warm and too nice to be in an apartment that really didn't want her company, Regina Harris decided. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ward leaders
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mama Tee, New York, Reverend Whitfield, Miss Libby, Aunt Regina, Aunt Gina, Richard Davis, Lenox Avenue, Regina Harris, Miss Jamison, Porsche Supreme, Earl Masters, Fuck Chink, Little Joe, Upper West Side, Zanzibar Blue, Denise Cornish, Miss Bernice, Center City, Chestnut Hill Hospital, Mother Whitfield, Nelson Mandela, Temple University, Yvonne Jamison
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