All-Bright Court

A New York Times Notable Book: A novel spanning two decades in the lives of an African American family as their upstate New York steel town slowly decays.

Set just outside Buffalo, New York, during the 1960s and ’70s, All-Bright Court paints a portrait of the Taylor family—starting with hopeful dreams as Samuel Taylor and his wife, Mary Kate, migrate from the South looking for better opportunities and a place to raise a family, and continuing through the decline of the steel industry as they, their five children, and their neighbors on All-Bright Court struggle with both new challenges and old prejudices.

“In a clear, quiet but powerful prose reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, the author draws the gaudily painted, rundown bungalows of All-Bright Court and peoples it convincingly. . . . The working conditions in the steel mills and the politics of the union hall are well rendered, but it is in the details of family life that the novel comes alive.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Porter has mapped a rich fictional world. . . . This is a powerful and affecting debut.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“An honest portrayal of folks who learned that the dream of economic freedom wasn’t waiting for them ‘up north.’” —Terry McMillan, New York Times–bestselling author of I Almost Forgot About You