Elsewhere, California

We first met Avery in Dana Johnson's award-winning collection Break Any Woman Down. As a young girl, she and her family escape the violent streets of Los Angeles to suburban West Covina. Then her cousin Keith moves in and triggers a series of events that will follow Avery throughout her life: to her studies at USC, to her career as an artist, and into her relationship with a wealthy Italian in the Hollywood Hills. Elsewhere, California illustrates the complicated history of African Americans across the rolling basin of Los Angeles.