Born to a thir­teen-year-old in the bath­room of his fam­i­ly’s small apart­ment, Abra­ham Sing leton enters a world laden with the obsta­cles inher­ent in an impov­er­ished com­mu­ni­ty. In spite of the crack epi­dem­ic and the HIV cri­sis that rav­age their neigh­bor­hood, the Sin­gle­ton fam­i­ly — cousins, an uncle, an aunt, Abra­ham, and his moth­er — is held togeth­er by Abra­ham’s hero­ic grand­moth­er, whose deep faith and sto­ic nature have always giv­en them a sense of whole­ness and hope. But when the fam­i­ly goes through sev­er­al har­row­ing loss­es, not even his grand­moth­er may be strong enough to lead them through​.At the cen­ter of this sto­ry is Abra­ham, the youngest of the Sin­gle­tons. Deeply intu­itive and cere­bral, he is deter­mined to thrive in a place that has destroyed the dreams of those around him. Col­lege means oppor­tu­ni­ty, yet it also means leav­ing behind those he loves. Abra­ham’s jour­ney into adult­hood will break his heart but ulti­mate­ly offer the pos­si­bil­i­ty of redemp​tion​.In this haunt­ing, lyri­cal, and evoca­tive nov­el, Matthew Good­man com­pos­es a paean to the pow­er of fam­i­ly and belong­ing in the African-Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty. Hold Love Strong is a spell­bind­ing com­ing-of-age tale about love, hope, and the will to sur­vive, and a stun­ning uni­ver­sal sto­ry about the incred­i­ble capac­i­ty of the human spirit.