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“The Housemaid’s Daughter” “The Housemaid’s Daughter” by Barbara Mutch (St. Martin’s) Quiet, grievous loss pervades “The Housemaid’s Daughter.” The novel is about a black woman and her white mistress in South Africa, each dedicated to the other and both cruelly undone when apartheid is enacted and becomes their new reality. Barbara Mutch’s first novel, a saga spanning five decades, is ...

STARPICZ / Splash News/STARPICZ / Splash News Britney Spears performs live during the opening night for her residency show ‘Britney: Piece Of Me’ at The AXIS inside the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas. Britney Spears received star-studded support during the opening night of her Las Vegas “Piece of Me” show on Friday. The pop ...

snoopdogg via Instagram Secretary of State John Kerry initiated a fist bump with Snoop Dogg at the White House earlier in December. Snoop Lion ’s gone from the Chuuuch to the Palace to the White House. And now, he’s fist-bumping with the Secretary of State. Ignoring the fact that the hip hop star has become something of an icon for ...

Who can you Belieb? Justin Bieber is tweeting mixed messages about his future a week after dropping his bombshell “retirement” announcement on a Los Angeles radio station. “My beloved beliebers I’m officially retiring,” the 19-year-old pop superstar tweeted to his 48 million followers on Christmas Eve.” PHOTOS: ‘JUSTIN BIEBER’S BELIEVE’ WORLD PREMIERE Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic Singer Justin Bieber claimed he’s ‘officially ...

Valerie June brings her unique take on roots music to the Highline Ballroom. Valerie June Fri. 8 p.m. Highline Ballroom Valerie June sings in a voice full of hard angles and rough surfaces. There’s a clanging quality to her tone, and a tinniness in her timbre, that speaks of the most unfiltered part of the American South. “By no measure ...

Sometimes even the best albums can slip through the cracks. The Court Yard Hounds’ latest CD, “Amelita,” came out back in July, but somehow got lost in the shuffle. It ranks as the greatest overlooked album of the year and, so, deserves mention before 2013 passes us by. The Hounds owes their life to the temporary fracturing of the Dixie ...

Beyonce via YouTube Beyoncé takes a moment to speak with her terminally ill teen fan. Beyoncé went beyond saying that she cares about her fans’ wishes — and actually made one come true. The pop superstar danced with Taylon, a terminally ill girl, at her Mrs. Carter Show earlier this month in Las Vegas. Beyonce via YouTube Beyoncé embraces her ...

Forever/via Vimeo A very curvy Beyoncé sizzles in her ‘Youncé’ video. Beyoncé is showing exactly how sexy should be done. The 32-year-old singer released another music video off her highly successful surprise album “Beyoncé.” Forever/via Vimeo ‘Every boy in here with me got that smoke,’ she sings. ‘Every girl in here got to look me up and down.’ RELATED: BEYONCE ...

David Redfern/Redferns via Getty Images Jazz great Yusef Lateef, pictured performing at France’s Jazz A Vienne festival in July, died Monday. He was 93. SHUTESBURY, Mass. — Grammy-winning musician and composer Yusef Lateef, one of the first to incorporate world music into traditional jazz, has died. He was 93. Lateef died Monday at his home in Shutesbury in western Massachusetts, ...

Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images Hugh Jackman won’t be chained to the Broadway production of ‘Houdini’ after all. The actor cited scheduling issues for his departure. Hugh Jackman is the latest high-profile name to escape from the Broadway production of “