Search Results: Titles starting with L from Oasis in the Diaspora

Simon and Schuster, 2008. 1st. Pristine. Sex and the City meets soul in this tale of Tamara Jones, a sexy, savvy businesswoman who is blessed—and cursed—by six sometimes selfish, yet always supportive girlfriends who all take on the tribulations of friends, family, and, of course, love.Set in New York City, Tamara Jones's latest escapade is with her new boyfriend, Tyrone. Tyrone is ambitious and handsome, and Tamara intends to fulfill her dream of marital bliss with him, down to the white picket fence, dog, and two-point-five children. But good intentions never guarantee good results, and soon questions start popping up that challenge their relationship. Does he know her well enough? Is he enough of a challenge to keep her interest? Or will Tyrone fall by the wayside in Tamara's constant search for The One? When Tamara comes to the aid of an old flame who's gotten in legal trouble, her convoluted emotions become even more complicated. Her life quickly becomes a balancing act between her… Read More

Simon & Schuster, 2002. The New York Times bestselling author returns with a gripping page-turner about a young college student whose path down the street of life takes a shocking turn. The second of three children and the oldest daughter, Leslie Beaudet has experienced more than she would ever be willing to share. To her Haitian immigrant father, Leslie was a princess who always deserved more than poverty. To her Black Indian mother, she was a source of pride and a reason to carry on. To her younger sister, she was an understanding ear and a sympathetic babysitter. To her older brother, she was nothing but a victim. To her peers and teachers at Dillard University, the beautiful, wide-eyed, and intelligent New Orleans native was a saint; determined, resourceful, and most likely to succeed. But when a string of New Orleans murders all begin to point in Leslie's direction, it becomes clear that no-one has understood her personal struggles or her secret craving for the power that has always escaped… Read More

Simon and Schuster, 2003. 1st. Fine. The New York Times bestselling novel about a beautiful young woman with a dangerous secret At the historically black Dillard University in the lush city of New Orleans, Leslie Beaudet struggles with a dark secret of power in a world that is pulling her in many different directions. Her friends and family see her in many ways -- from a father's deserving princess to a mother's source of pride and strength, from a caring listener to a motivated student -- but does anyone know the true Leslie? When a series of murders befall her New Orleans community and increasingly points in Leslie's direction, her friends and relatives realize they've never really known her at all. Slowly, this complicated young woman emerges. She is terrified of failure, struggling with family secrets, praying for elusive security, and craving the power to change her fate. Her power was hidden from her until now...and it might be too late to stop her. Omar Tyree delivers another exciting… Read More

Simon and Schuster, 2004. 1. Fine. Award-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley delivers a bold and heartwarming story of family and faith about a man who has succeeded as a reverend and failed as a father.Reverend Simon Jackson has always felt destined to lead and he’s done a good job of it, transforming his small Houston church into one of the most respected and renowned in the region. But while the good Reverend’s been busy tending his flock, his family’s gone astray. His nineteen-year-old daughter, Rachel, gives new meaning to “baby mama drama.” Crazy in love with her son’s father, she's wreaking havoc on the man’s life, even though he's about to marry another woman. David, Simon's oldest at twenty-seven, has been spiraling downward ever since a knee injury ended a promising football career. These days he’s seeking solace in drugs—even feeding his habit by stealing church offerings. Blessedly, twenty-three-year-old Jonathan, a college graduate and the apple of Simon’s… Read More

NYU Press, 1994. 2nd. Pristine. As its title suggests, this collection is a sort of human list and found department. It is peopled with odd, vivid characters, often alone and displaced, immigrants from Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Chile or lost souls in their own homeland, wanderers in whose world the miraculous is ever lurking, always possible. Many live in Paris —a dilapidated, largely unseen Paris of sweatshops and dingy hotels. Some have left their countries, like the wily Miss Carmen, to see what could be had; others, like the clubfooted Sliman, are driven by spiritual desire. For all of them, the experience of exile, real or imagined, is a catalyst to liberation—a liberation described by Marsella with compassion and a touch of the mystical. Signed softcover
Box 8

HarperCollins, 2003. When Noire, a hip, Afro-wearing Ph.D. student, walks into Brown Betty Books, her righteousness kicks into overdrive amid the self-identified "talented tenth" who wear their double degrees and five-hundred-dollar shoes like badges of honor. And then Innocent walks in, sits down beside her, and turns her on her head. A dashing, well-heeled investment banker originally from Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, Innocent seems interested in her ... but he's one of them.Before meeting him, Noire shunned the "bourgie" world of black monied cosmopolitans like Innocent, opting instead for socially conscious -- but economically challenged -- artists and urban intellectuals. Their mutual attraction blossoms into lust and eventually love, but it lives in the shifting sands of personal beliefs and professional ambitions that are often at odds.Set in present-day New York City with jaunts to Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, A Love Noire is the story of an unlikely couple that struggles to… Read More

Strebor Books, 2007. 1st. Good. How do you save a widower who weaves a road map of self-destruction because his wife of forty years has suddenly died and he's unable to cope with the reality of that loss? Graham Peters has shut everyone out of his life and has tried unsuccessfully to immortalize his wife, Amanda, by reliving daily (through flashbacks) their life together. But with a little prodding from best friend, Charlie Ford, Graham's spirit begins to lift, and he finds that there is life after death in the likeness of Ms. Rita Long, a sultry jazz singer at a local nightclub, far from the church that has been his life. A man now obsessed with the beautiful, long-legged Rita Long, Graham is faced with questions. Can he love another woman the way he loved Amanda? Will his daughters think he's lost his mind because he's seeing Rita? After all, Amanda has only been in the ground a couple of months. Can he bring this new woman into his home that reeks of Amanda...to possibly begin a new life… Read More

Macmillan, 2002. 1st. Fine. The coming-of-age story of one of Jamaica Kincaid's most admired creations--newly available in paperbackLucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to North America to work as an au pair for Lewis and Mariah and their four children. Lewis and Mariah are a thrice-blessed couple--handsome, rich, and seemingly happy. Yet, alomst at once, Lucy begins to notice cracks in their beautiful facade. With mingled anger and compassion, Lucy scrutinizes the assumptions and verities of her employers' world and compares them with the vivid realities of her native place. Lucy has no illusions about her own past, but neither is she prepared to be deceived about where she presently is. At the same time that Lucy is coming to terms with Lewis's and Mariah's lives, she is also unravelling the mysteries of her own sexuality. Gradually a new person unfolds: passionate, forthright, and disarmingly honest. In Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new character possessed with… Read More