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| Author | Sister Souljah |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John Vairo Jr. (designer) Mike Rich (photography) |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction Urban fiction |
| Publisher | Atria/Simon & Schuster Washington Square Press/Simon & Schuster (trade paperback) |
Publication date | November 4, 2008 |
| Publication place | United States |
Published in English | November 4, 2008 |
| Media type | Print E-book |
| Pages | 512 pp. |
| ISBN | 978-1-4165-4518-7 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4165-5626-8 (e-book) ISBN 978-1-4165-4536-1 (trade paperback) |
| OCLC | 212846660 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.O7374 M53 2008 |
| Preceded by | The Coldest Winter Ever (1999) |
| Followed by | Midnight and the Meaning of Love (2011) |
Midnight: A Gangster Love Story originally scheduled to be published October 14, 2008, is a novel by Sister Souljah that was published November 4, 2008, by Atria/Simon and Schuster. It is a prequel of The Coldest Winter Ever (1999), the novel that spawned the contemporary street literature movement. It follows a young Black Sudanese Muslim immigrant in Brooklyn with whom Winter Santiaga associated before she was sent to prison.
Midnight is born into a prominent Islamic Black Sudanese family in which he enjoys a life of comfort, confidence, and protection. His father provides him with a veil of privilege and deep, devoted love, but he never hides the truth about the fierce challenges of the world outside of his estate. In the mid 1980s, his father abandons the family, disappears, and is never heard from again. Just before his disappearance, he instructs Midnight and his immediate family to move to the United States. Midnight, his mother, and his sister eventually settle in project housing in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. They are repulsed by American culture and try to live as comfortably as possible without fully engaging with their new home.
In the streets of Brooklyn, a young Midnight uses his Islamic mind-set and African intelligence to protect the ones he loves, build a business, reclaim his wealth and status, and remain true to his beliefs.
Over the course of four years, Midnight eschews traditional school and eventually enrolls into a Japanese martial-arts dojo, where he trains to be as nimble as a Japanese ninja. When a strange man professes his attraction to Umma, Midnight hunts him down and kills him in Prospect Park—a perfect murder that the police never solve. He also learns how to play basketball and is one of the star players in a hustlers’ league, where he meets his two closest friends, Ameer and Chris. He is also obsessed with protecting his family and procures a stash of weapons for protection. He frequents a small bookstore where he plays regular games of chess with its owner. However, he is extremely guarded and no one outside of his immediate family ever finds out whom he really is or even what his real name is (NB: his name is revealed in A Deeper Love Inside).
Later, Midnight meets a young woman named Akemi, who is an art prodigy from Japan who takes advanced-placement classes at Pratt Institute. Eventually, despite neither of them being able to understand each other’s language, Midnight and Akemi fall in love and decide to marry. Midnight tries to manage his life with Akemi and look out for his family and hang out with his friends while managing his family's newly opened business. He comes to terms with struggles that occur from day to day.
Umma and Naja accept Midnight and Akemi’s decision joyously. When Akemi’s father learns of the marriage, however, he does not approve of the union and takes her back to Japan. In the sequel, Midnight travels to Japan to try to take her back home.
