My Blue Suede Shoes

by Tracy Price-Thompson, TaRessa Stovall

Genres: General Fiction; Anthologies; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

A powerful collection of novellas by four leading African-American women writers, each tackling the terror of domestic violence. In Other People’s Skin, Tracy Price-Thompson and TaRessa Stovall, along with writers Elizabeth Atkins and Desiree Cooper, took on intra-racial prejudice. The second book in their successful Sister4Sister Empowerment Series once again offers hope and healing, this time from the nightmare of abuse. In Desiree Cooper’s Breakin’ It Down, a highly successful talk show host, haunted by the abandonment and self-loathing she felt as a child, is shocked to find herself inflicting the same abuse she experienced on her seven-year-old daughter. Tracy Price-Thompson’s Brotherly Love goes deep into the disturbing relationship between a beautiful, accomplished teenage girl and the seemingly dutiful brother who raised her after their parents’ death. TaRessa Stovall’s Breakin’ Dishes reveals the turmoil behind the scenes of a picture-perfect marriage as an angry wife beats her cheating husband. And in Elizabeth Atkins’s The Wrong Side of Mr. Right, an outwardly beaming bride-to-be comes to terms with the inner turmoil brought on by her emotionally abusive fiancé. In all four novellas, redemption and hope appear when a pair of blue suede shoes enters each woman’s life, helping her to overcome her challenges and stop the cycle of abuse. A raw, engaging, and enlightening collection from beginning to end, My Blue Suede Shoes is as informative as it is entertaining.

Release date: March 29, 2011

Publisher: Atria Books

Print pages: 320

Sample

EDITORS’ NOTE

It shouldn’t hurt to be a woman, and as sisters in this great country, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that our daughters and sons know this statement to be absolutely true. Violence and abuse manifest themselves in a myriad of ways, and there isn’t always a raging red flag to alert us that someone we know or love might be in pending danger.

My Blue Suede Shoes seeks to shed light on various forms of abuse in relationships and to heal these hurts by focusing on the root cause of the abuser’s behavior and having him or her take responsibility for instituting the necessary self-change.

Whether it be child abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or emotional abuse, domestic violence in any of its many manifestations is simply wrong, and as a people we must acknowledge it when we detect it in our communities and then take active steps to assist the victims in obtaining the help they need to remove themselves from relationships that cause them harm.

But help mustn’t only be provided for the victims of abuse. Many cases of domestic violence are perpetrated by those who have also been abused themselves. Causing pain to others thus becomes a vicious cycle, one that is difficult to break without intervention and assistance.

In this second volume of our Sister-4-Sister Empowerment Series, we not only seek to illustrate various aspects of domestic violence and abuse, we also strive to understand the motives behind the behavior and to find methods of eliminating the abuser’s need to inflict pain on others. It is our hope that the stories we’ve penned for this important volume of fiction are eye-opening and thought provoking in ways that are beneficial to you in your daily life.

So, as you go about your lives, may each of you place an arm of protection around your sisters and brothers in need, while praying for them the same safety, comfort, happiness, and protection that you seek for yourselves. May you be blessed with the utmost peace and balance, and as you navigate the harrowing roads to self-awareness and determination with CC, Zana, Charmaigne, and Monique . . . please . . . if you run across a sister who’s in trouble, don’t turn your back on her. Empower her! Be a Sister 4 your Sister. Share a copy of this book, and give her a pair of blue suede shoes.

Peace and balance, Tracy and TaRessa
www.empowerourselves.org

© 2011 Versatile Voices Entertainment Group, LLC