Divas of Damascus Road


Book Description

A family of Christian women battle issues of unwanted pregnancies, overeating, mental illness and traumatic childhoods, hoping that--like Saul's encounter with God on the road to Damascus--their lives will turn around.




Now and Then, Again


Book Description

Now entering mid-life, Vann Sinclair is ready to do for herself after years of doing for others. But the serene life Vann expected with early retirement turns out to be just a dream. Everything happens for a reason, and Vann soon finds unexpected wonders.




The Publishers Weekly


Book Description




2006/2007 Black Authors and Published Writers Directory


Book Description

First-of-its-kind internationally, a unique and innovative,indexed listings of the Black Literary Market Place. Easy-to-read chapters features Black authors, writers, poets, song, film and playwrights, publishers, producers, agents, librarians, bookstores, columnists, book and music critic/reviewers, editors, newspapers, magazines, television and radio talk shows, advertising, marketing and publicity sources all alphabetized and categorized under author's name or service company, and subject. URL: http://www.bapwd.com/BAPWDirectory.htm URL: http://www.bapwd.com/librarys.htm URL: http://www.bapwd.com.




Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring '20s


Book Description

A vibrant portrait of the talented and entrepreneurial women who defined an era in Cairo. One of the world’s most multicultural cities, twentieth-century Cairo was a magnet for the ambitious and talented. During the 1920s and ’30s, a vibrant music, theater, film, and cabaret scene flourished, defining what it meant to be a “modern” Egyptian. Women came to dominate the Egyptian entertainment industry—as stars of the stage and screen but also as impresarias, entrepreneurs, owners, and promoters of a new and strikingly modern entertainment industry. Raphael Cormack unveils the rich histories of independent, enterprising women like vaudeville star Rose al-Youssef (who launched one of Cairo’s most important newspapers); nightclub singer Mounira al-Mahdiyya (the first woman to lead an Egyptian theater company) and her great rival, Oum Kalthoum (still venerated for her soulful lyrics); and other fabulous female stars of the interwar period, a time marked by excess and unheard-of freedom of expression. Buffeted by crosswinds of colonialism and nationalism, conservatism and liberalism, “religious” and “secular” values, patriarchy and feminism, this new generation of celebrities offered a new vision for women in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.










Girl Meets God


Book Description

Like most of us, Lauren Winner wants something to believe in. The child of a reform Jewish father and a lapsed Southern Baptist mother, she chose to become an Orthodox Jew. But as she faithfully observes the Sabbath rituals and studies Jewish laws, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Christianity. Taking a courageous step, she leaves behind what she loves and converts. Now the even harder part: How does one reinvent a religious self? How does one embrace the new without abandoning the old? How does a convert become spiritually whole. In GIRL MEETS GOD, this appealingly honest young woman takes us through a year in her search for a religious identity. Despite her conversion, she finds that her world is still shaped by her Jewish experiences. Even as she rejoices in the holy days of the Christian calendar, she mourns the Jewish rituals she still holds dear. Attempting to reconcile the two sides of her religious self, Winner applies the lessons of Judaism to the teachings of the New Testament, hosts a Christian seder, and struggles to fit her Orthodox friends into her new religious life. Ultimately she learns that faith takes practice and belief is an ongoing challenge. Like Anne Lamott's, Winner's journey to Christendom is bumpy, but it is the rocky path itself that makes her a perfect guide to exploring spirituality in today's complicated world. Her engaging approach to religion in the twenty-first century is illuminating, thought-provoking, and most certainly controversial.




Playing Away


Book Description

It's sexy. It's roguish. It's hilarious. It's a sensational debut novel from London, a joyously comic take on modern marriage and its fallout. Single people may feel they have it rough...but wait until you see what happens when married folk fall in lust. Connie Green's life should be perfect. She has a hot career, her wonderful husband Luke, and a bunch of great girlfriends. But Connie has a big problem. She has just met overwhelmingly sexy John at a business conference. Her head and her heart said, "no way," but her traitorous body shrieked, "yes, YES!" Now Connie's deep into a tawdry affair, which is destroying her peace of mind and her grand plan for Happily Ever After. Maybe John is her destiny. After all, she's losing weight. It can't be a bad thing if she's losing weight. Can it? Connie longs to confide in her girlfriends. They've always discussed their sex lives before, preferably over cocktails. But this infidelity thing makes it a trifle awkward. Rose would be horrified. For her, it's pretty clear-cut; nice girls don't have affairs. And Daisy is too busy being in love. Sam knows about John but she doesn't want to believe it. How could and why would Connie cheat on her lovely husband? Sam's working hard to ignore the fact that Connie's shagging John every chance she gets. Maybe Lucy would understand; she's bonking a married man herself. Connie just wishes Lucy would be a little less cynical about the whole thing. What Connie wants is...Well, Connie's not quite sure what she wants. And that's exactly the trouble. A novel for every woman juggling the untidy mix of work, romance, sex, and marriage, Playing Away shimmers with equal parts comic relief and penetrating insight. As Connie and her brave, silly, colorful friends search for answers along the precarious paths of love and lust, we glimpse more than a little bit of ourselves. With bold strokes both moving and outrageously funny, Adele Parks has crafted a stunningly revealing portrait of the lives of hip, urban women, poised at the cusp of a millennium.