Unforgivable Love

ON SALE SEPTEMBER 26TH

“Complicated characters, unbearable tension, heartbreak,
and betrayal make Unforgivable Love an absorbing read.”

Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Hemingway's Girl

“Unforgivable Love is lyrical and lush, enchanting and energetic. With botttomless empathy and loving attention to detail, Sophfronia Scott embraces a classic and makes it her own.”

Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow and An American Marriage

“Scott’s wonderful, original retelling of Dangerous Liaisons takes readers deep into the lives of her characters; Mae, Val, and Elizabeth are riveting and complex. You won’t be able to stop reading this terrific, absorbing book.”

Karen E. Bender, author of Refund, Finalist for the National Book Award

“At once beautiful and ominous, visceral and ethereal, tragic and fulfilling, Unforgivable Love is a genuinely moving novel […] Sophfronia Scott has given us a book that will last, an elegant page turner that transcends time and place.”

Bret Lott, New York Times bestselling author of Jewel

“Unforgivable Love is an exquisite, sexy, beautifully imagined novel in which Sophfronia Scott expertly recasts the intrigues and characters of Dangerous Liaisons in Harlem of the late 1940s. Both a virtuosic homage and a thrilling retelling–Unforgivable Love is a stunning accomplishment.”

Christine Sneed, author of The Virginity of Famous Men and Little Known Facts

“Unforgivable Love is an unforgettable read. Scott’s reimagining of Dangerous Liaisons into 1940’s Harlem society is nothing short of inspired, with all the spice and spite and delight of the original, and more. Nuanced, haunting, elegant, this is a book I can’t wait to read again – and then, again.”

Robin Black, author of Life Drawing

“ […] here is this eighteenth century French tale remade into a panorama of mid-century Harlem, America–full of brilliant characters, a tale of love and lust and treachery, written with the rhythms of jazz, giving forth beautifully rendered rooms and streets and sounds […] better than the original.”

Richard Bausch, award-winning author of Before, During, After

“Unforgivable Love is a fast-paced tale of intrigue, seduction, and betrayal. Sophfronia Scott leaves us breathless.”

Lee Martin, Pulitzer Prize Finalist author of The Bright Forever

“Scott’s novel is a vivid, vibrant, and panoramic exploration of the hearts and minds of its mostly well-heeled characters and the universal themes of love, sex, and social intrigue […]Scott takes readers there and lets them wander and discover this exciting, historical time and place.”

Breena Clarke, author of the award-winning Oprah book club pick, River, Cross My Heart

“Imagine Dangerous Liaisons set in 1940s Harlem, amidst the nascent civil rights movement, baseball, and jazz, and you have Sophfronia Scott’s riveting novel Unforgivable Love.[…] I miss this world-and Scott’s gorgeous prose already.”

Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade

“Unforgivable Love is vibrant, thoughtful and very sexy. It sneaks up on you and once you are under its spell, it won’t let go.”

Martha Southgate, author of The Fall of Rome

“Why do the worst people always seem to win? In this remarkable retelling of the French classic Les Liasions Dangereuses, Sophfronia Scott brings scandal, manipulation, and perverse desire to (barely) postwar America. Never have I rooted against a protagonist so fervently, all the while taking secret pleasure in the subversion of virtue. But wait. Who really wins here? Beautifully written, sumptuously atmospheric, fearless in its cultural appropriation, UNFORGIVABLE LOVE is surely the breakout book for this thrilling new voice.”

Bill Roorbach, award-winning author of Life Among Giants and The Girl of the Lake

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“Hello! I’m a writer of fiction and non-fiction. I believe in friendship, love and joy and I hope you’ll find my work engaging both on a literary level and a life level. Words can change minds and each one I write is an opportunity to do just that. Please let me know what you think–I am, after all, writing to you! This is definitely a two way conversation: inspire others as you’re inspired and we’ll all grow together.”

Sophfronia Scott grew up in Lorain, Ohio, a hometown she shares with author Toni Morrison. Her father was a Mississippi-born steelworker who never learned how to read and her mother was a stay-at-home mom who always made sure there were books in the house. She holds a BA in English from Harvard and an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Sophfronia spent a big chunk of her career as a writer and editor for Time and People magazines where she developed the uncanny ability to create order out of chaos by whittling massive amounts of facts and ideas into a single cohesive form.

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