Omar Tyree has once again proven that his talent is unmatchable. His latest novel, Leslie, is a head-spinning, mind-boggling horror story that looks deep into the life of a black female college student striving to succeed despite the adversities of growing up in poverty.
The story is set in 2002 at Louisiana’s historically black Dillard University. The routine lives of the college student and her roommates turn upside down as realizes she has powers from a mysterious side of her family tree.
Leslie serves as the protector, pride-holder, and peacemaker of her family. She is a guardian to her younger sister’s two children and the backbone of the family. As time passes, Leslie begins to feel trapped by the duties that she has upheld so strongly during her childhood. Her life becomes chaotic and the peace she always cherished slips away.
After learning that her grandmother was a voodoo priestess, she decides to use the power passed on to her to control her chaotic life. As bodies began to drop like flies and murder investigations suggest Leslie’s guilt, her family life falls apart and Leslie goes from college student to county inmate.
Tyree proves that black writers do know how to write about more than love and sex. This novel allows the reader to tour the mind of a quiet college student who explores and uses voodoo to change the course of her life.
“Leslie is ultimately the story of a woman who refuses to accept the social disrespect that comes with abject poverty.”-Omar Tyree