num_pages: 320
description: In 1975, Tempestt Saville and her family are chosen by lottery to "move on up" to Lakeland: one square mile of sparkling apartment towers and emerald lawns where the Black elite live sheltered from the ghetto by a ten-foot-tall, ivy-covered wrought-iron fence.  Eleven-year-old Temmy doesn't enjoy the privilege, however, and thinks Lakeland is the "kingdom of the drab."  Instead, she is drawn to the vivid world outside the fence: to 35th Street, where the saved and the sinners are both so "done up" you can't tell one from the other.  Tempestt's curiosity soon leads her down a dangerous path, however, and after witnessing the death of a friend, she sets into motion a chain of events that will send 35th Street up in flames.
language: English
title: Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven
titlecomplete: Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven
genres: Fiction, African American, Adult
ratings_count: 343
places: Chicago, Illinois
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: ALA Alex Award
publisher: Anchor