09.29.26
Four generations converge in one woman’s choice between her principles and her heritage.
a “sweeping tour de force”
-Nadine Strossen, former president of the ACLU
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A story of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, identity and survival in America
— Official Trailer —
What they’re saying…
“For everyone who is committed to America’s founding ideals of ‘liberty and justice for all,’ and who also enjoys an engrossing ‘good story’—replete with intriguing characters, a suspenseful plot, complex personal and community relations, and challenging ethical dilemmas—this sweeping tour de force is a double treasure. Ribaudo explores our national triumphs, tragedies, and ongoing struggles through the dramatic interactions among individuals and families in a storied Chicago neighborhood, across the course of a tumultuous century.”
—NADINE STROSSEN, former president of the ACLU and co-author of The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail
“Crossing Division Street is a revelatory venture into areas of racial fear, anxiety, and resentment that are all too widely ignored or misunderstood. Rebecca Ribaudo is a skillful, creative, and intrepid literary adventurer.”
—RANDALL KENNEDY, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author of Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture
“Crossing Division Street spans the history of an immigrant family in America, but its true allure lies beyond that. Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo has written a heartfelt story about what family really is, and the luminous struggle toward forgiveness and true happiness.”
—CRAIG NOVA, author of The Good Son and The Last Sweet Taste
THE BOOK
“It was a story that would take years to tell…As true to life and time, it would not be linear, but spherical, moving forward while tracing back over the past, thickening layers, deepening lives and understandings…”
-Crossing Division Street
An epic, 100-year family saga of loyalty, redemption, betrayal, and inheritance.
In July, 1999, Sidone Russo, a single, high-powered attorney, is stopped at a red light in Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green neighborhood when a little girl jumps into her car and cries, “Go, Lady! They gonna kill me!” Panicked, Sidone takes off with the girl crouched in the back seat, sobbing.
As the reality of the girl's life seeps into Sidone's independent world, Sidone is forced to confront her own identity and the hidden roots she left behind in Cabrini, once a mixed-race neighborhood called Little Sicily or Little Hell. What unfolds is an epic, 100-year family saga and the true history of Little Sicily and Cabrini-Green, a place where generations struggled through the defining events of America's twentieth century—from lynchings and riots to wars and assassinations—by embracing racial, ethnic, national, and religious identities not as a matter of choice but of survival.
Caught in a conflict that has defined her family and our modern history, Sidone must choose whether to leverage her hidden identity in a high-profile adoption trial or remain true to her individualist principles. In the crosshairs lies not only her career and her mother’s deepest secret, but also the lives of her Sicilian papa, an orphaned child, and the only man she’s ever loved.
In a dual-timeline story of loyalty, betrayal, redemption, and inheritance, Crossing Division Street is an accessible, conversation-inspiring debut that challenges narratives around identity in America, leaving readers wrestling with one of the oldest yet most urgent conflicts of our time.
Characters
Daisy (b. 1853)
Maurizio Natali (1873 – 1943)
Carlotta Natali (1878 – 1923)
Nico Natali (1901 – 1958)
Camila Natali (~1901 – 1957)
Rosa (Natali) Russo (1933 – 1999)
Salvatore Russo (1931 – )
Sidone Russo (1956 – )
Lincoln Keyes/Muhammad Abdulnur (1933 – )
Lincoln (son) (1975 – )
Mary (1933 – )
Alice Washington (1933 – )
Cheryl (Washington) Robinson (1956 – )
Wil Robinson
Samuel (1956 – )
Cherise
Christian (1978 – )
Jira Jaimes (1974 – )
Carlos Jaimes
Brother J
Delu Jaimes (1991 – )
Otis (1999 – )
Auntie Ruth
Nedra (1991 – )
“Upon her shoulders, it was the weight of her entire family and kin—of those generations before her, and those yet to come; of those she'd known, and those held in blood within.”
THE HISTORY
The historical world of the novel “feels like flipping pages through time…”
— Trailer —
The events that changed them all…
1891 - Eleven Sicilians Lynched, New Orleans
1912 - Boxer Jack Johnson Hung in Effigy, Chicago
1919 - Chicago Race Riots
1922 - March on Rome/Mussolini to Power
1924 - US Immigration Act Restrictions
1926 - Chicago Deportation Drive Targets Sicilians
1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Chicago
1933 - Italo Balbo's Transatlantic Flight/World's Fair
- Prohibition Ends
1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
1938 - Italy's Manifesto of Race, Racial Laws
1939 - Italy's Pact of Steel with Germany
1941 - Germany & Italy Declare War on US
1942 - Frances Cabrini Homes (Rows) Dedication
1943 - Housing Integration Riot in Little Sicily
1950 - First US Combat Troops to Korea
1955 - Emmett Till Murdered
- Rosa Parks/Bus Boycott
1958 - Cabrini Extension (Reds) Completed
1959 - The Hate that Hate Produced Airs on CBS
1962- William Green Homes (Whites) Completed
1965 - Malcolm X Assassinated
- Bloody Sunday/Selma March
- Judgment at Nuremberg ABC Premiere
- First US Combat Troops to Vietnam
1968 - MLK Assassinated/1968 Riots
1973 - Roe v. Wade
1975 - Nation of Islam's Elijah Muhammed Dies
1978 - Solzhenitsyn Delivers World Split Apart Harvard Speech
1988 - NOI Dedication of Mosque Maryam, Chicago
1992 - Dantrell Davis Murdered in Cabrini-Green
1996 - Race Factor Banned in Foster Care, Adoption
1997 - Girl X Tragedy in Cabrini-Green
2000 - NOI Saviours' Day: A Celebration of Family
2001 - Cabrini-Green Demolition Underway
“Someday she would remember—even just the flash of an image—and everything he'd told her…from all parts of history would come together.”
THE AUTHOR
Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo
Rebecca’s debut novel combines her love for Chicago with a deep interest in history, the American experiment, character-driven stories, and the human condition. Like many authors, she wrote her first novel in the invisible hours around work and children.
Rebecca spent her career developing brands and writing for a range of institutions, from Fortune 500s to nonprofits. She is now working on her second novel while leading and advising initiatives supporting freedom of expression, civil liberties, intellectual freedom, women's freedoms globally, and alumni communities. She graduated from Harvard College with a concentration in Social Studies.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Rebecca has called the city of Chicago home for more than thirty years. She and her husband live downtown and have two daughters.
“We each take our own roads, Sidone, but there are places where disparate lives intersect. These are the very crossroads where we must face the truth about ourselves, and our humanity."
CROSSING DIVISION STREET
09.29.26 Release by Skyhorse Publishing
Release Formats: Hardcover, Digital, Audio
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