The Stars and the Blackness Between Them

By: Junauda Petrus

Narrated by: Junauda Petrus, Bahni Turpin, J. D. Jackson

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book

Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus' bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both.

Port of Spain, Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she's going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor's daughter. Audre's grandmother, Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own), tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won't lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. "America have dey spirits too, believe me," she tells Audre.

Minneapolis, USA. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels - about her ex, Terrell, about her girl, Jada, and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that's plagued her all summer. Mabel's reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner.

Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer, and suddenly it's Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future.

Junauda Petrus' debut brilliantly captures the distinctly lush and lyrical voices of Mabel and Audre as they conjure a love that is stronger than hatred, prison, and death and as vast as the blackness between the stars.

©2019 Junauda Petrus (P)2019 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Fearless." (Teen Vogue)

"Like Toni Morrison, who redrew the narrative of black experience with novels set in Midwestern small towns, Petrus is redrawing a map, creating an Eden where Caribbean, black and LGBT culture can find beauty and lushness, spirituality, history and sustenance." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

"Petrus’s prose is rhythmic, colloquial, and unabashedly erotic." (City Pages)

I LOVE this book

I listened to this book on a long solo car trip and I loved it so very much. It is of course written with a young adult audience in mind, but I am a not-so-young adult and it DELIGHTED me and made me cry and felt like it contained so much strength and magic and medicine. I am so grateful that this book was written and can’t wait for more from Junauda Petrius!!!! Also the narration was superb.

Moving

The writing and the narrators are outstanding. Very much worth the read. The book did NOT follow a predictable path, and the journey felt so authentic

Amazing love story

Laugh, cry and be witness to a sweet love story. Petrus has a way with words that cuts to the soul.

My Gawd

This is the most luscious book I have ever read. It's my new favorite.

So good!

It was awesomely written. The two points of view were interesting. I liked the Teinidad accent. I liked the musical references. Mom describing brunch was pretty cool. There were some surprises and twists and turns. Surprise guests. Quite interesting. I enjoyed how it ended, also in surprise.

remarkable and tender love story

loved seeing the development of characters in this book, the reading was very well done and i felt seen and translated in to text in so much of this book. i am so very happy to have come across it

Beautiful read

Wow! This was a beautiful read. I loved how each character had their own voice and how those voices made me feel connected to them. I really love how the book ended. I visualized the book as a movie.

Wow. What happened?!?

I need more words! Although my heart can accept this ending, my mind needs more words to be able to understand how a freedom for some can be so unfinished for others. I find myself wanting more - more perspectives, more time, more healing. This is a great story. I feel like I inhaled it. And the pieces I want most are lost somewhere between here and forever.

Loved how raw the story was!!

First sapphic novel that I've personally listened too! It was like Audre was telling my story.

An absolutely phenomenal read

I enjoyed every second of listening to this book. Mabel, Audre and the whole cast of characters are breathtakingly real. I really loved the astrology focus of the story because it really got me thinking about spirituality, stars, universe and astrology. I teared up multiple times while reading this incredible book.

TW: homophobia, child abuse, terminal illness, death sentence