The Best In Multicultural Fiction

Joquina Somerville

Joquina came on board with me in August of 2004. I am happy we kept in contact with each other after we met in February of 2004. She has become extremely valuable to me. This Libra digs down deep to make sure I’m not off track on anything and she specializes in the facts and the novel flowing correctly. When I screw something up—she finds it. Joquina works so hard and questions so many things that I have nicknamed her “The Editor.” She reminds me of those people at Penguin/NAL. She’ll push me to the limit and I’d better have an explanation for what I am doing when writing. Joquina started off reading part of a novel I am presently writing titled “The Donation.” She then advanced on to Arrivals, my third novel, and on to Illusions which is expected to be released in 2006. She is presently sitting back relaxing and laughing her butt off reading my second novel, Connecting, which is due to be released by Penguin in March of 2005. I hope there are no mistakes in that because I know she’ll send an E-mail to Penguin. Because Joquina is so efficient, I don’t even have to write her biography. The next paragraphs of it will explain everything about her association with me. Here it is prepared by the master, herself. Thanks my love—I needed you in my life and again, Welcome Aboard! My name is Joquina Somerville and I reside in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I am an elementary school teacher with nineteen years of experience. I am the mother of a son, PJ who is nine years old. I will be forty-three years old this October. I wanted to be a test reader after reading Departures by Adrienne Bellamy and having the opportunity to discuss the book with her. I eagerly volunteered to test read for her. My book club, The Page Turners had the pleasure of hosting author Adrienne Bellamy in February 2004 after reading her book Departures as of our featured selection for the month. Our book club consisted of 11 female African-Americans within the ages from mid-thirties to mid-fifties. Our members’ occupations range from the fields of law, education, social work, health, and public service. One of our members had met Adrienne while she was hosting a Barnes and Noble book club discussion and arranged with her to meet with us. We found Adrienne to be just like her book – full of life and had a lot going on, all at the same time. What a lively discussion we had! The members had many questions for Adrienne and wanted her input to why she had written what she had written. Different members had different favorite characters. Some parts pleased us immensely, like Paula getting her just desserts. Parts of Departures made us laugh and some parts just annoyed us. While we were reading the book, different members found themselves calling each other to find out if they had read the part where the person calling was at in the book. Often the conversation began, “Girl, wait to you get to page _____.” Departures gave us a beginning to look forward to. I had the pleasure of reading Arrivals. When I first got the book, I looked at the number of pages and said well, this will take some time. The evening that I got it, I read about fifty pages and stopped because I was tired and I didn’t want to miss something, reading while sleepy. The next morning I told myself that I would read to page one hundred and then stop and to do my work. Well, I was only fooling myself. I read one hundred pages then told myself that I would stop when I read fifty more. When I got to that point, I told myself that I would stop when “so and so happened.” Needless to say, I got no work done that day. I spent the day laying on my bed reading until I finished the book. From time to time, I would call Adrienne and say, “I can’t believe this has happened.” Reading Arrivals was like coming home. It was wonderful to read about characters that I knew about, Horace, Reba, Amber to name a few. It was great that Lenora was finally free! I was quite sad that Lenora had to serve time in jail in Departures. While I knew that there was a book in between Departures and Arrivals that I had not read, Arrivals stood by itself. A person who had not read Departures would have no problem reading Arrivals. Society has us thinking that if you are on death row that you are a bad person. Arrivals changes our naivety thinking. The women that we meet through Lenora are parts of ourselves. They said that there’s a thin line between love and hate. Well, Arrivals let’s us know that there’s a thin line between sanity and I’ve had enough. Anyone reading Arrivals will see themselves somewhere between the pages. The way the women get on death row will make you laugh, feel sorry for them, and understand all at the same time. Their stories made me wish I had the power to pardon them and free them. The death row women are our sisters, our nieces, our mothers, and ourselves and most of all our circumstances on many a day. Reading Arrivals makes you want to have a three day slumber party with all the people you care about, whether they are your family or good friends. That’s what Arrivals gives us, friends and family who have each other’s backs during bad times and will celebrate with you during the good times. May we all have friends like those in Arrivals! If you are fortunate enough to read Departures, Connecting, and Arrivals in order, you will see the growth of an author and truly continue to look forward to what’s coming next. Happy reading!