Yonkers is a picturesque city on the Hudson River, but beneath the surface racism runs rampant and often explodes into the open. It's 1969 when blacks and whites don't mix in this highly segregated, working-class town. Gutsy white girl Cookie Colangelo loved her black kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kerry, because she taught Cookie to love books. Even though people told Cookie if she let Mrs. Kerry touch her, she would turn black too, Cookie knew that wasn't true. She struggles to survive in a world that is racist and unjust. After Cookie was beaten by a nun at a Catholic school, she loses her innocence. She alternates between being a gangster and a hippie and is going down the wrong path as a small-time drug dealer. Then she meets shy black boy Herman Lynch, who is a natural dancer and he helps Cookie to fix her wounded knee by teaching her to dance. As their friendship develops, Herman opens up to Cookie about the dark secret he hasn't been able to share with anyone--he's gay. Cookie and Herman experience racism at the hands of other kids and grown-ups, especially a neighborhood busybody, the racist white widow, Fran Ochiogrosso, and the local Mafioso Louie Santamassino. These two grown-ups turn out to be Cookie's and Herman's greatest champions. Unbeknownst to Herman and Cookie, all along they have had an emotional bond in common with Cookie's kindergarten teacher Mrs. Kerry.

YONKERS Yonkers!: A Story of Race and Redemption

Literature & Fiction

Vaccarino, Patricia

Genre Fiction

Modus Operandi Books

Cookie Colangelo’s story unfolds in Yonkers, circa 1973. She has to work in a crummy job at a chain drug store. Her boss openly fondles Cookie and the other girls who work there. Cookie borrows money so her friend, who is poor, black and in an abusive relationship, can pay for an abortion. When she catches two young black girls shoplifting in Ghetto Square, she becomes the unwitting catalyst for the eruption of a race riot and ends up getting fired from her job. In her struggle to survive, she makes many enemies: Toni Ferlinghetti, the Queen Bee of Italian Girls, Tony Amendolito, a local thug, and Mosella Moran, who carries a razor blade in her afro. After Cookie steals several hundred thousand dollars, the real fun begins. From Max’s Kansas City to the Upper East Side celebrity restaurant Elaine’s, Cookie Colangelo faces a grim reality—the world is rigged against everyone who is poor or from the working class.

So Not Yonkers (YONKERS Yonkers!)

Literary

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Modus Operandi Books publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Modus Operandi Books

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Modus Operandi Books publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

YONKERS Yonkers!: A Story of Race and Redemption

So Not Yonkers (YONKERS Yonkers!)