This image is the cover for the book I Left My Back Door Open

I Left My Back Door Open

A successful female DJ refuses to let a few romantic catastrophes keep her down in award-winning author April Sinclair’s dazzlingly soulful novel that was hailed as “a Bridget Jones’s Diary for black women” by the New York Times Book Review

Daphne “Dee Dee” Dupree has arrived at age 41 with a career she loves, but a romantic life she doesn’t. Insecure about her weight and protective of her often-broken heart, Dee Dee is an expert at hiding her inward struggles from the thousands of Chicago residents who hear her on the radio every night. A successful, charismatic DJ for the local blues station, Dee Dee is still looking for the type of love she’s missed since her divorce. After a traumatic event at work, Dee Dee meets Skylar, a union mediator who could be just what she’s looking for—if only there weren’t so many obstacles in their way.

Meanwhile, Dee Dee’s coworker Jade is nearing her own divorce; her best friend, Sharon, has come out of the closet; and Sharon’s teenage daughter is dangerously close to a breakdown. As Dee Dee works to ease the problems of her friends, she finally faces her own troubles—both old and new—in this uplifting, thought-provoking novel.

April Sinclair

April Sinclair is the acclaimed, award-winning author of three novels. Her debut, Coffee Will Make You Black, was named Book of the Year (Young Adult Fiction) for 1994 by the American Library Association, and it received the Carl Sandburg Award from the Friends of the Chicago Public Library. The sequel to Coffee Will Make You Black, titled Ain’t Gonna Be the Same Fool Twice, was published in 1995 followed by the novel I Left My Back Door Open. Sinclair has been a fellow at the Djerassi, Yaddo, MacDowell, and Ragdale artist colonies. She worked for fifteen years in community service programs, and has taught reading and creative writing to inner-city youth. Born and raised in Chicago, she currently lives on an island connected by bridges and a tunnel to Oakland, California.

Open Road Integrated Media