SATIN DOLL

A now-revised first novel, originally self-published, graphically celebrates a girl from the ’hood who makes it on her own by knowing how and when to fight back.

Miller, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, knows the territory: her depictions of Harlem, Philadelphia’s African-American bourgeoisie, and the drug-and-club scene all have an admirable authenticity. But, unfortunately, the story told by her protagonist, Regina Harris, never engages: poor but beautiful Regina needs to demonstrate throughout that even a young woman with a bad past can survive and remain true to herself. Brought up in Harlem, Regina is a model daughter until her widowed mother dies, overwhelmed by coping with Regina’s older sister Brenda, a crack addict with a newborn infant. Young Regina tries to take care of baby Renee, but there’s no money, and she fears Renee will be put in foster care. Regina starts shoplifting, then doing sexual favors for rich drug dealers, but after she’s wounded in the melee surrounding a drug deal turned violent, she decides to go straight. She graduates from college and becomes a remarkably well-paid and successful freelance writer. Still, she can’t escape her past, even when she marries handsome Charles Whitfield, a lawyer and the only son of well-to-do black Philadelphians. When Charles runs for Congress, his opponent releases information about Regina’s history to the press. The couple weathers the storm, Charles is elected, and Regina gives birth soon after to a daughter. The marriage breaks down, though, when she learns he’s been unfaithful. Regina, hanging tough, has her own ideas about revenge—and the future.

Sadly, our heroine is no role model but just a satin doll, doing what’s expected in a story that is more a gussied-up concept than a credible delineation.