Black Women's Power Has Always Been Called Dangerous

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.

Sinners meets The Witcher in this debut fantasy novel of two witches battling for the soul of New Orleans—an “intoxicating” mix of magic, love, and intrigue (Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary).
All are welcome to see the Quarter Queen in her forbidden court... at your own peril.
In 1843 New Orleans, Voodoo queen Marie Laveau is feared by all. Her rebellious daughter Ree defies her mother at every turn, until she finds Marie comatose under a wicked curse cast by exiled Voodoo king Jon the Conjurer—Marie’s former teacher, lover, and greatest enemy.
As Ree uncovers dark secrets and faces dangerous enemies, including her childhood friend turned witch hunter, she must confront her mother’s past and her own destiny—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 tale of love, family, power, and the deadly cost of correcting the sins of the past.
Story Locale:1840s New Orleans

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.