The Quarter Queen

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A Voodoo witch must navigate a magically and racially divided nineteenth-century New Orleans to save her mother—and the soul of the city itself—in this lush debut novel inspired by the life of Marie Laveau.“A riveting read that does not shy away from both the light and the dark aspects of the supernatural.”—Essence (Most Anticipated Books of 2026)“An edgy, intoxicating novel pulsing with the dark heartbeat of 1840s New Orleans and a fiery mother-daughter dynamic I won’t soon forget.”—Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost ApothecaryA Book Rio, Reactor, and Read Between the Spines Best Book of the Month Pick!In 1843 New Orleans, the reigning Voodoo queen is Marie Laveau, feared by her enemies and followers alike. Her daughter, Marie "Ree" Laveau the Second, is everything her cutthroat and principled mother is not—spoiled and entitled, with a wickedly rebellious streak—and defies her mother at every turn. But Ree’s world is turned upside down when she finds Marie comatose in the bayou, cursed by exiled Voodoo king Jon the Conjurer—Marie’s former teacher, lover, and greatest enemy.As Marie hovers on the brink of death, Ree races to uncover the secrets of her mother’s life in search of a cure and gradually uncovers a web of alliances, dangers, and deception. What’s worse, Henryk Broussard, Ree’s long-missing childhood best friend, returns as a witch hunter of the Church, tasked with investigating her. With so many enemies circling, including a puritanical-minded Brotherhood of alchemists and the slave-holding mayor of the city, Ree must confront the past and face her mother’s demons that have now become her own—or die trying.Told in alternating timelines between Ree in the present and Marie’s rise to power twenty-five years earlier, The Quarter Queen is an intimate yet epic portrait of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand one another, and a captivating exploration of racism, family, and womanhood. Kayla Hardy is a mythology expert and multi-hyphenate author and screenwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. She earned her PhD in creative writing and African American literature from SUNY Binghamton University. Dr. Hardy is an adjunct professor at SUNY Binghamton University and is an accomplished scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo. The Quarter Queen is her first novel. Publisher: Ballantine Books Publish Date: March 31, 2026 Pages: 384 Language: English Type: Hardcover EAN/UPC: 9780593976760 Dimensions: 9.5 X 6.4 X 1.3 inches | 1.2 pounds BISAC Categories: Fantasy, Popular Fiction, Literary Fiction Show more