The Delta Sisters

By Kayla Perrin

Book Overview

From "Essence" bestselling author Kayla Perrin comes the compelling story of three generations of African-American women---of their deepest secrets and most cherished lies. The Grayson family is a pillar of the African-American community in New Orleans. But Sylvia Grayson, the matriarch, has deep secrets that she conceals beneath a veneer of propriety. She keeps a tight rein on her daughter, Olivia, and has the perfect life mapped out for her: go to college, join the Delta sorority, and marry the proper boy. After the town's "bad girl" is found murdered one summer day in 1975, Sylvia pulls Olivia even closer. But when Olivia's one last attempt at rebellion is subverted by her mother, Sylvia's relentlessly tight hold shatters the ties between them. Years later, Olivia's own daughter, Rachelle, is trying to make her way in the world. Olivia does not want to make the same mistakes as her mother, nor does she want her daughter to repeat the errors Olivia made out of rebellion. Meanwhile, a killer is watching from the shadows, determined to bring the secrets of the past to light. "The Delta Sisters" is a gripping, intimate portrait of what happens when these passionate women have to band together at last in the face of danger.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312300883
• ISBN13: 9780312300883
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book

I loved this story!!! In it, you meet two generations of black women. You laugh and cry with both. The love story in the midst of the main story is beautiful and powerful. I could not put this book down.

Great Book!

This book was extremely exciting and interesting. It was hard for me to put it down. I felt like I was on a roller coaster with this book, there were twists and turns in almost every chapter of the book.

A great suspensful novel

This book was grrrreat. This was the first book that I read from this author.The the delta soroity is not the main base of this book. It is about a murder and who killed who. I thought the book was wonderful and I cant wait to read other books that she has written.

Sisterhood Secrets and Lies

The Grayson family is one of the most prominent and upstanding African American families in New Orleans. Family matriarch, Sylvia Grayson will do whatever it takes to ensure her family keeps up appearances. As a result, she is overprotective of her only daughter Olivia and typically wants to control her life. Sylvia wants Olivia to attend Dillard University, become a member of Delta Gamma Psi Sorority, and marry the right man; just as she did. But Sylvia's life is littered with lies, deceit and shady manipulations and her greatest fear is that one day all of her sordid actions will come to light and her pretentious world will be shattered.Olivia Grayson has always felt smothered under her mother's watchful eye. She is coming into womanhood, and as most teenagers do, she wants more freedom to choose whom she dates and the choice to have fun as she pleases. It seems her only outlet is writing and her best friend Belinda. Olivia is trying desperately to adjust to her mundane life when in the summer of 1975 her life is forever changed. Someone murders the town's most promiscuous female, her mother begins acting strangely and Olivia meets the man of her dreams. Then something tragic happens and Olivia becomes a mere shell of the vibrant young woman she used to be.Years later a widowed Olivia does not know how to love her daughter Rachelle. Rachelle has been the perfect daughter, making good grades and not causing any trouble. While Rachelle has always felt the love of her grandmother Sylvia, she still yearns for her mother's approval. Rachelle tires of her mother's indifference and decides to live her life for herself. However, her act of rebellion could place her in danger as there is still a murderer on the loose.In Kayla Perrin's latest novel THE DELTA SISTERS, she weaves an engrossing tale of murder, lies, and deceit. Readers learn that people aren't always who they seem to be and that the sins of the mother, can often become the sins of the daughter.Reviewed by Simone A. Hawksof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

terse psychological suspense thriller

In 1953 Lafayette, Louisiana, Sylvia tries to flee from what she did. The incident haunts her for the rest of her life as she suffers nightmares vividly displaying this calamity.Still life goes on. Over the next two decades Sylvia insures her own daughter follows a path to success by keeping a rein on Olivia. However, in 1975 New Orleans someone killed Liza ?bad girl? Monroe, which shook up Sylvia more than it should have. She reacts by tightening her control of her daughter until Olivia has had enough and revolts.Two decades later, Olivia?s daughter Rachelle attends college. However, unbeknownst to the coed, her mother, or her grandmother someone waits. That individual has killed before and will murder anyone who might reveal secrets. Age is no factor to this predator willing to send Sylvia, Olivia, but especially Rachelle to the morgue.This exciting story line freshens up what could have been the trite watcher-killer theme by furbishing characters that seem so genuine so that when something happens, fans empathize with the women as the episode feels real too. The three females make the tale as the audience compares each with one another while also what lurks in the shadows. Kayla Perrin paints a terse psychological suspense thriller that hooks the audience from the moment Sylvia tries to run away from herself until the final confrontation.Harriet Klausner