The story is told from her perspective in slang that is highly influenced by the hip-hop culture. Winter is brash and self-important she says, 'it was important for me to know I deserved the best, no slum jewelry or knock-offs'. The main character is Winter Santiaga, the teenaged daughter of Ricky Santiaga, a local drug kingpin. The Coldest Winter Ever is a 1999 novel by Sister Souljah published by Simon and Schuster. Once I picked it up, I definitely couldn’t put it down.ISBN 1-4165-2169-0 (mass-market paperback) The Coldest Winter Ever is a page-turner. But this is not the end of Winter’s story: you'll have to read the rest of the novel to find out what happens!ĭue to graphic details and some situations not suitable for younger kids, I would recommend this book only to high school students. She is ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison, for the drugs that Bullet had stashed in their car. Bullet runs away, but Winter is arrested. Bullet intervenes by shooting a gun into the air, which attracts the police. While traveling to Brooklyn with Bullet, Winter gets in a brawl with her former friend, Simone. However, what goes up must come down: Winter’s life once again crashes at full speed. He has money, so Winter runs off with him to a place where there are beaches and sunny skies.

So is Winter-she is finally making money.īut Winter is not satisfied until she rekindles a relationship with one of her old boyfriends, Bullet. She sells the items to the girls in the group home and becomes their personal stylist.

So she finds a way to get ahead in the group home: with the little money she has, she buys hair products, make-up, clothes, and magazines. At the same time, Winter also needs money to get her dad out of jail. She hides from and fights with Social Services as long as she can, but she is eventually moved into a group home filled with sad and abused women. Winter, who lies about her age, is left to survive on her own-without any resources. On the streets, Winter's mother quickly turns to drugs, and her younger sisters are taken by Social Services. They have nowhere to live and nowhere to go. The FBI not only takes him but also everything the family owns. She spends hundreds of dollars a day until suddenly on her 16th birthday, her father is torn from their lives. Once in this new neighborhood, Winter lives the high life. Though she used to live in the hood in Brooklyn, her dad recently moved Winter, her mom, and her three sisters out of Brooklyn into a community of mansions. She has only the nicest things and expects nothing but the best. In Sister Soljah's novel The Coldest Winter Ever, protagonist Winter Santiga is the teenage daughter of a famous drug lord.

The coldest winter ever book series