THE SHIRT OFF HIS BACK

Debut offering from Villard’s Strivers Row paperback imprint for “quality African-American literature.” Originally self-published, radio talk-show host Brown’s debut novel celebrates the single black father in the form of Terry Winston in “a grand tribute to the men who have lived in the literary shadows of dogs, bastards and hoodlums far too long.” Terry must fight his self-serving, manipulative ex-wife in a custody battle as he draws strength from his twin girls, his devoted girlfriend, his best friend, the family matriarch—but mostly from himself. It’s the man’s turn in black fiction, and Terry Winston comes out swinging.