Garden of Hope for Tolerance, Love Marriage and More

Garden of Hope: Autobiography of a Marriage
By Maryanne and Lennox Raphael
Hopewell Publications, 2006
Trade paper, 221 pages.

Reviewed by David Henderson for Tribes.org

Lennox and Maryanne Raphael were extremely connected from the beginning of their courtship and subsequent marriage that took place in exotic regions of Mexico and Central and South America in the early 1960s. An interracial couple, the story of their 11 year marriage, is told in Garden of Hope: Autobiography of a Marriage from both of their points of view.

This unusual and intriguingly successful dual autobiography written long after their marriage ended in divorce in the early 1970s reveals that they are still uniquely connected. Each writes passages under their own names, usually in tandem. The book ends soon after the birth of their son, Raphael, a day after Christmas in 1968. This work is dedicated to their son and his new family in more ways than just the words in the frontispiece. Over the dedication “For Raphael, Ginger and Zeal” is a photo of them. As divorce is often most difficult for the child, this book could also be looked at as a loving explanation that they all participated in. The son, Raphael, now, in his late 30s, wrote the foreword. He speaks gratefully of being able to share in their beatific romantic moments when they came together as a couple. He is also able to understand some of the problems that led to their divorce. He is glad they live in the present having never allowed their problems, that seemed so huge at the time, to destroy their future Being too young to have remembered them together, he is grateful “to find a forgotten snapshot of [his] parents in love.” He notes with happiness that today they are still “optimistic, exceptional and bubbling with creative enthusiasm.”

Garden of Hope concentrates on the high points of their marriage. Perhaps a new genre is born here, The Raphael’s union began in the earliest and perhaps most difficult days of the 1960s, well before the assassinations of President John F, Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy. And at the threshold of Flower Power, Black Power and The Summer of Love.

The young couple, in their early 20s, met in Kingston, Jamaica, in April of 1961 and came together almost at once. Lennox was a Trinidadian journalist who was building a career having left a local newspaper in his hometown to take a job with a magazine in Kingston. Maryanne, a more than promising scholarship student at Ohio University, had joined a Black sorority as the sole white person and for that was featured in Ebony Magazine and on the cover of Jet magazine, the two major African American magazines of the time. She had graduated with the highest of honors and won a scholarship to the Sorbonne (in part for a manuscript written in French). She completed the program and traveled through Europe. In 1961 she was in the West Indies living on her own.

After a rather whirlwind courtship that was based on an intense meeting of their minds and spirits and complete truthfulness, they married in Tampico, Mexico and for the next several months were never apart. They lived on very little money. On a whim they traveled to Brazil where they had many adventures and became well known as poets and painters, even to the point of appearing on TV. But they had insights about Brazil as well where there would be a particular South American surprise twist to their own interracial marriage:

In fact, we found the Brazilian boast of racial equality very shallow. . . . both black and white Brazilians praised their country as a racial utopia and loved to point the accusing finger at the United States where, in fact, its citizens (fellow Americans) were making active progress towards racial understanding. . . . Much unlike Brazil where (we were assured by many) the cosmic solution for all racial problems was for blacks to marry some one as light as possible so their children would be lighter than they were; and would in turn marry lighter until the dilution process had eliminated Africa as a recognizable identity.

They topped their south of the border adventures by traveling across the southern United States by bus at the height of the Civil Rights movement — and not once, but twice! They both seem to have had a guileless naiveté that may have helped to protect them from suffering any outrageous consequences of their actions. These adventures were witnessed by Greyhound passengers and the mysterious local policemen who appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere to silently accompany them as they waited in white waiting rooms (this was still the late Jim Crow era when there were separate facilities in the South for blacks and whites).

Maryanne Raphael writes eloquently of the inequality of those facilities personally experienced when she had traveled alone through the southern United States. By insisting on staying in the black sections her unusual positioning made it possible for her to go back and forth between the black and white Jim Crow facilities. When Maryanne and other women were in need of sanitary napkins; she was urged to go into the white facilities.

At this particular stop, the Blacks were forced to use two outhouses, one for men and one for women: and they were lined up around the corner. However, the Whites had a large waiting room with enough toilets for thirty women. They even had showers for 25 cents. And, of course, vending machines for Kotex, or Tampax, as the white women chose; and for toothpaste, deodorant, combs, perfume, etc.

For some, those physical aspects of American history may be a surprise and could be in danger of being lost to public cognizance.

But it would also be in Brazil where Maryanne had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized for some weeks. Looking back they both admit it was the very beginning of the end of their marriage. But it would take years to jell. Lennox, having to be very careful with Maryanne and watch her and protect her from being institutionalized again, gladly took on that role as a young husband. But he had to admit, looking back, that that began to wear away the youthful blush of their young love. It was very interesting to get a retrospect point of view throughout a quite moving love story.

After her recovery in Brazil they traveled to meet his family in Trinidad and then on to Waverly, Ohio in southern Appalachia to meet her family. If the breakdown in Brazil was the beginning assault on their union it just may have been the interaction with her strictly catholic family that was the most difficult to bear.

There were childhood memories regarding African Americans that she had confided to Lennox early in their courtship that gives some indication of the state of that region and some of the conflicts that came from their visit.

She had told of “some of the terrible games that sought, unsuccessfully, to shape my life.” She had resisted those forces that “would make me a faceless, formless, conscienceless white American girl of catholic upbringing.”

When we went swimming, someone always shouted, ‘Last one in is a nigger baby!’ And we would scramble head over heels because nobody, even me, wanted to be a nigger baby.

We kids never made a choice without counting, ‘Eanie, Meany, Minny Moe, catch a nigger by the toe; if he hollers let him go … ’

We learned very early to spin our superstitions around Blacks, Whenever two kids started picking on one, the solitary one would say, ‘Two on one is a nigger’s fun.’

Whenever someone made an unpopular or uncalled for suggestion, he was told, ‘No remarks from the colored section,’ and we all would laugh ourselves to tears and wet pants.

The grownups, like my father and uncles and the teenagers around said, ‘I’m sweating like a nigger at election,’ or if someone took a drag of their cigarette and wet it, he was told, ‘Stop nigger-lipping my smoke.’

Ohio was an essential territory of the underground railroad for slaves seeking freedom, often from the southern border states of Kentucky and West Virginia. Some of the sayings that got into the lexicon dealt directly with the heritage of slavery and the social conditioning, especially during the formative years of white children. This was necessary to perpetrate “the peculiar institution,” and the subsequent institutionalization of racism. But there were other institutions that were also problematic.

They had given her parents the impression that Lennox was Catholic and that they had been married in the church. During their visit they confessed to her parents that they had had a non-Catholic wedding. But to Catholics and those from many other religions as well, to marry outside of the church is tantamount to not being married at all.

Maryanne’s parents were of that conviction.

The young interracial couple struggled through the two week visit, and then came to New York City, where they would begin to realize their goals as writers, and embrace a community that accepted them as they were. Brief mention is made if their involvement with the Umbra Workshop and with Lennox’s important work for the East Village Other, an influential weekly newspaper of the time.

One of his most memorable assignments was to cover Martin Luther King’s funeral. Their son was conceived during that time. Amusingly enough Maryanne became the first pregnant “Slum Goddess” in EVO. And as a result became a well paid model for medical magazines where she was photographed in her ninth month completely in the nude. It is too bad those photos are not in Garden of Hope.

But there are decent photos of the attractive young lovers in this surprisingly delightful and fulfilling book. Looking back, both have produced significant works and their impressive literary activities continue. Maryanne Rafael has intriguing books about Mother Theresa, among many others, and Lennox Raphael, who now resides in Copenhagen, continues to write poetry and plays, and work within artistic organizations. His ground-breaking play “Che,” is significant in theater history, especially in relationship to the City of New York in the 1960s.

Garden of Hope is certainly a successful collaborative autobiography and could be an inspirational model in many ways.

Perhaps it will encourage more couples to write the stories of their romance.
----
© David Henderson

Website © A.G.O.T.T. All Rights Reserved.

Author Reviews How-To Tome for Book Promoters

Talk Radio for Authors
By Fran Silverman
Nonfiction/How-to


Reviewed by Judith Woolcock Colombo


Francine Silverman’s Talk Radio for Authors is a fine example of what a “how to book” should be. It is well written and organized in such a way that the reader need not wade through every chapter to get the information he or she needs.

The talk radio shows, both internet and terrestrial, are grouped in sections according to their themes, including programs dealing with authors and their craft, to ones on antiques and collectables, or others serving health enthusiast, animal lovers, hikers, or technophiles. Each show, its theme, its objective, and the type of guests it courts was described clearly and precisely.

However, the section I found most enlightening was the one discussing the hosts’ opinions of the best and worst kind of guests. This section is a must for anyone who is about to be interviewed on a radio show. It could make the difference between selling yourself and your book or exposing yourself to the audience in an unfavorable light.

The appendixes that followed the main part of the book were almost as extensive and just as informative as the chapters that preceded them. The first was a concise list of radio show directories. The second listed authors who had appeared on radio shows and gave a brief description of their experiences and works. The third appendix contained the varied biographies of numerous radio hosts.

I also found the articles at the end of the book very useful, especially Laura Ramirez’s Let the Guest Beware and Alex Carroll’s Making Radio Interviews Really Pay.

This is a great reference book, and I will be referring to it often.
------
Judith Woolcock Colombo: Author of The Fablesinger, Night Crimes and The Gasman, and Amazon short.
Visit my web site at http://odin.prohosting.com/~night01 Or email
judithcolombo@hotmail.com for info & sample chapters.

Rogue Novel by Jo Beverley Anyone?

Lady Beware
By Jo Beverley
Historical romance
ISBN 978-0-451-22149-0
Signet, $ 7.99, PG-13
5 hearts

Reviewed by Mary Benn for the Romance Reader


Jo Beverley carries off a remarkable achievement in Lady Beware, the latest and
possibly last in her Company of Rogue novels. In a world where the loud, the
graphic and the sensational sell, she cultivates a silent and subtle build-up
but rocks her readers to their core. Her craft deserves close attention, but it
is the unusual combination of familial comfort and risqué pleasure that makes
this book a winner.

Horatio Cave, Lord Darien attended Eton at the same time as the Rogues, but he
was not admitted into their exulted company. His violent and scandalous family
history, which includes murder, madness and Italian opera singers, had already
branded him. His belligerent behavior didn't help. Even good-natured Dare (the
opium-addicted hero of To Rescue a Rogue) took issue and warned, "Cave Canem."
Well versed in Latin, the Eton schoolboys immediately recognized the pun (the
inscription cave canem, or "Beware the Dog", was carved on the doors of Roman
homes). The name stuck, and Cave has never forgiven Dare or the Rogues for it.


In the meantime, Cave has made a very different name for himself as a hero of
the Napoleonic wars. His bravery isn't enough to whitewash his family name. So
when Dare's honor in the battlefield is questioned, he sees it as an
opportunity to redeem himself. He coerces Dare's sister Thea Debenham into
accepting a bargain: if she acts as his betrothed, thereby gaining him the
social respect he craves, he will clear her brother's reputation.

It is easy to see what this set up could have become: a predictable story about
a false engagement that eventually becomes a real one. That is not the path
Thea and Cave take. He immediately does his part but allows Thea to withdraw
from hers. Her mother, on the other hand, is determined to pay off the family
debt . More naturally cautious, Thea remains wary of this dark, dangerous
stranger, but she is also intrigued — and secretly thrilled.

Beverley brings her characters to life by examining them in their social
universe. A former soldier, Cave is very much a man's man, and it is mostly
through his interaction with other men that we discover his loyalty and
decency. He deploys all the authority which goes with his rank, but never
abuses it: there is no condescension or false camaraderie in his concern for
his former soldiers. Similarly, Thea's unspoken anxieties and elegant poise are
seen most clearly in her family relationships and her female friendships.

Beverley ensures her characters are multifaceted and doesn't overlook the
erotic dimension of Thea and Cave's relationship. She pens several daring
encounters, but overall subtlety is the key to her art. In one scene, Cave
strokes Thea's gloved finger with his. There is more sensual tension in that
caress than in some of the most explicit descriptions I have recently read.

Throughout the novel, Beverley sets her own leisurely pace and draws her
enraptured readers towards a firework finale. Ominous hints maintain the
novel's tension and the reader's curiosity. The bad things come as no surprise
but still hold us at a fever pitch.

No doubt about it: Lady Beware is yet another jewel in Beverley's heavily-
decorated crown.

-----
Jo Beverley "Arguably today's most skillful writer of historical
romance..." Publishers Weekly
5 time winner of the prestigious RITA award.
"Romance at its best." Romantic Times.

Jamieson Wolf Pens Witchy Tale--Just in Time for Fall Gifting

The Ghost Mirror
By Jamieson Wolf
eTreasures Publishing
www.etreasurespublishing.com
Copyright 2007
Ebook/Paperback
YA/Dark Fantasy
Available on Amazon

Reviewed by Mayra Calvani, The Dark Phantom Review


Thirteen-year old Mave is no ordinary girl. For one thing, she happens to be a black-eyed, redheaded powerful witch, so much so that even her own parents fear her. Not understanding her powers, her mom and dad have chosen to ignore and neglect her to the point of emotional cruelty.

The only person in the world who seems to love and understand Mave is her grandmother, and when she takes Mave to live with her in her big mansion, the young girl couldn’t be happier. Soon, however, Mave discovers a strange and mysterious old mirror in the attic. Grandmother warns her to stay away from it, but sometimes curiosity can be more powerful than reason. Mave touches the mirror, with dangerous consequences. She’s transported into a dark and magical world and faced with a grand mission: she’s to destroy the evil Lavender Man… or die.

Talented author Jamieson Wolf has penned a dark, sometimes macabre, beautifully written novel for young adults and adults alike. His lyrical prose flows like the magic in his story and has an old-fashioned tone to it which perfectly complements the plot. Some of the vivid images in the book are quite haunting, like the Tree Lady of the forest and the Lavender Man sucking the spirit from his victims. Above all, the beauty of the language stands out, as well as the author’s obvious love for storytelling. I was drawn from start to finish into Wolf’s darkly magical world and look forward to reading the sequel soon.

A Romantic E-Ticket Adventure from Carrie Lynn Lyons

Dream Pictures
Carrie Lynn Lyons
Mundania Press LLC
www.mundania.com
ISBN-10 : 1-59426-234-9

Reviewed by: Suzette Jamison

Carrie Lynn Lyons blends a unique cast of characters with a story that touches heart and soul, and takes readers on an E-ticket adventure filled with goose bump chills of something other in “Dream Pictures,” book one of the Carnival Soul Trilogy.

An isolated road, a stormy night, and a grizzly murder, all pretty cliché. But the two men who interrupt the killers and sweep young Jamie Weston and the reader into their world aren’t cliché, aren’t ordinary, and are not about to let the killers get to their last victim.

Visitors to Cavanaugh’s Carnival and its oddities show come to see its starring attractions, Cavanaugh’s Midget Hunchback and Cavanaugh’s Frankenstein. Even most in the Show see only the personas they project. Solomon and Leon Cavanaugh, the owners of Cavanaugh’s Carnivals, four of the largest traveling shows in the United States, are more, much more, and they do anything to protect the child that came so willing into their arms, including opening the closed world of the carny to outsiders.

Devastated by the death of his best friend, Paul Randolph, will use all the resources at his command as the new CEO of the multi-billion dollar Weston Corporation to find the killer and his goddaughter. When he becomes a target, too, he finds himself under the protection of Jaime’s unusual rescuers.

The foreward in this book, written by John Robinson of Sideshow World, says, “It ‘s alive on the inside,” and so it is. Well written, fast paced, alive with character, adventure, thrills and chills and heart and soul, Carrie Lynn Lyons “Dream Pictures” sweeps you away for a few hours with the carnival, the characters, and their story.
-----
Carrie Lynn Lyons grew up is Southern Utah as Charlene Ruesch, married, traveled around courtesy of the Airforce and landed in Nevada, where she is employed in the health care industry and busy with her grandchildren and writing.

Have You Ever Heard the Name Goody Two Shoes?

The Inspiring Story of Little Goody Two Shoes
By Michael Levy
Publisher: Point of Life Inc.
ISBN Numbers 978-0-9668069-9-1
Number of Pages 139
Paperback 6x 9
Price $12.95
Distributors: Ingram's, Baker and Taylor


Book review by author Michael Levy ... Published by Point of Life Inc.
An English Classic Book Renewed for Children of All Ages ---



Many people have heard the name Goody Two Shoes, but very few people on earth have read the book ... It was as famous as the works of William Shakespeare and Harry Potter in a bygone age and forgotten for the past 60 years until now!


The story of Little Goody Two Shoes, was one of the most famous, popular and influential children's/adults books of the eighteenth century. It was first published in 1765 and had an unparalleled status for over two hundred years. At long last, Point of Life publishing house has renewed, refreshed, revitalized and recreated the literature masterpiece.

By the inspirational pen of Michael Levy, the creative publication has been gracefully transformed, while at the same time keeping to the original text and meaning as much as possible. It is an updated, encouraging book that is required inspiring reading for all children and adults.

From humble beginnings the little orphan girl teaches children and adults to learn to read and write with wisdom. The inspirational tale follows Little Goody Two Shoes on many adventures that challenge her sanity and survival. In the second part of the story, as an adult Miss Margery, becomes headmistress of the ABC College of education. She also teaches adults how to stop quarreling and live a peaceful, wholesome life... She invents a three cornered "Pals Hat" (Peace and Love - Smile) that has thought provoking words written on each side.

The hat helps people become aware of the differences in their opinions ... It conveys messages to them that allows time to stop and think about how they can meet each other in the middle of their opinions, so that together they can embrace peace and harmony.

The new edition has been restored and revitalized to its rightful place as one of the best children's books of all time and is sure to become a best seller for the next two hundred years and beyond.

------
Michael Levy is the author of eight inspirational books. Michael's poetry and essays now grace many web sites, newspapers, journals and magazines throughout the world. He is a prominent speaker on health maintenance, stress eradication, wealth development, authentic happiness and inspirational poetry.

Quote "Beginners luck can last a lifetime once we understand how lucky we are to be born" _Michael Levy

From-the-Heart Mini Review from Brand New Author

Title: The Frugal Book Promoter
Subtitle: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't
Published as a trade paperback and e-book by Star Publish

Reviewed by Alexa Wolf

I read THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER from cover to cover, marked everything till I couldn't find anything, started over, carry the book everywhere, reread it constantly. No matter what page I turn to, I learn something new... again. This book is invaluable to any writer (except maybe C. J. Rowling, who probably doesn't need it).

A Fantasy That "Rackets" Along by Jon Baxley

title: THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY
author: Jon F. Baxley
publisher: Five Star (an imprint of Thomson Gale)
Hardcover, Fantasy
445 pages including maps and annotations
E-book publisher: Twilight Times
ISBN: 978-1594144516

Reviewed by Julia Hayden for Blogger News :Julia Hayden, aka Sgt. Mom, Blogger

The Blackgloom Bounty is one of those rambling, picaresque fantasies which makes occasional hectic detours into a universe strongly resembling the 10th Century border region of present-day Northern England and Southern Scotland. The story rackets along at a tremendous pace; rather like an amusement park ride or a fiendishly complicated Dungeons and Dragons game. At the end of it, you are dumped out with a spinning head and a perhaps not-quite accurate memory of everything that went on, but in no doubt that you and everyone else had a tremendously amusing ride.

The reader remembers that there was an enormous cast of characters, rushing about, and it was all something to do with curses, stolen inheritances, a stalwart young heir hidden away, a feisty wench, brave warriors, secret tombs, ghosts, wicked noblemen, spells and shape-changing, magic stones and a treasure of wonderful wealth, a sea-monster… and then, and then and then… the review would be about as long as the book itself, if I attempted to do even a short recapitulation. And it wouldn’t be anywhere near as amusing. Just think of “The Blackgloom Bounty” as the fantasy-novel equivalent of the stateroom scene in the old Marx Brothers movie “A Night at the Opera”.

When young Daynin and his grandfather find a curiously carved stone while plowing their field, they have little idea that it is the legendary Scythian Stone… but a wandering magician named Kruzurk Makshare does… and with a few brisk preliminaries, Daynin is off and running on the adventure of his life, to find and liberate an enormous treasure, and then to keep hold of it. The author has concocted an intricate yarn, briskly paced, and in a writing style which is always workmanlike and quite frequently sparkles. He also has an ear for conversation, which also serves the story well. This is the first volume of a projected series, and a worthwhile read for any devotee of the fantasy-adventure genre.

And there is a bit with a dog, too.

“The Blackgloom Bounty” is available through Amazon.com at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594144516.
------
Sgt. Mom is a free-lance writer to blogs at The Daily Brief. More about her own books is at www.celiahayes.com.

Every Little Girl's Dream, "Meghan Rose On Stage"

Meghan Rose On Stage!
By Lori Z. Scott
ISBN: 9780784721032. 2007
Fiction: Juvenile, Humorous, Friendship, Christian life, Talent Show
Contact Reviewer: J. M. Sample jmsample@aol.com
Publisher: Standard Publishing; $4.99
Publisher site: www.standardpub.com


Reviewed by Jewel Sample for Amazon.com

I read "Meghan Rose on Stage" to my granddaughters who are five and seven years old. My granddaughter's were so enthralled with the story we had to read the whole book in one sitting. When we would come to the "really, really cool" (as my seven year old granddaughter phrased it) illustrations by Stacy Curtis, they would peer over the pages inspecting each character and chat about what was going on.

The book was definitely a hit and they could hardly wait to make a red volcano that Scott suggests along with other activities in the back of the book. I improvised by using a empty plastic 16 ounce pop bottle. We took the creative play experience outside and I was so glad we did because the volcano did erupt. The children squealed and howled as they watched their project in action.

Another thing that made this book so special was the "Chatter Matters" discussion questions in the back of the book. One granddaughter chatted about how cool it was to know Meghan prayed when she did not know what to do next. The other granddaughter discussed that it does not matter who you are anyone can share their talent! Sharing with others makes everyone happy.

Now they have a "really cool" memory about a girl named Meghan Rose, while on one of Grandma's play dates and a new phrase definition, "bouncy kangaroo," which they practiced all over my living room. A great adventure story with "bam" (as my five year phrased it) for elementary age children and of course, this Grandma enjoyed this fun read too.
-----

Reviewer Jewel Sample blogs at http://jewelsamples.blogspot.com