Queenie follows the life of Stephanie Saint-Clair-the infamous criminal who made herself a
legend in Harlem in the 1930s. Born on a plantation in the French colony of Martinique
Saint-Clair left the island in 1912 and found success in New York rising up through poverty
and battling extreme racism to become the ruthless queen of Harlem's mafia and a fierce
defender of the Black community. A racketeer and a bootlegger Saint-Clair dedicated her wealth
and compassion to the struggling masses of Harlem giving loans and paying debts to those
around her. But with Prohibition ending and under threat by Italian mobsters seeking to take
control of her operation she launched a merciless war to save her territory and her skin.
Author Aurelie Levy and co-writer and illustrator Elizabeth Colomba's meticulous details-in
both story and art-bring Saint-Clair's story to life in a tense narrative against a sometimes
bloody backdrop of jazz and voodoo. The story tackles the themes of colonization corruption
police violence and racial identity but above all Queenie celebrates the genius of a woman
forgotten by history--
