Pearl Cleage

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
(1997)
A novel by

Pearl Cleage
Awards

Pearl Cleage



At first glance Pearl Cleage's What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day seems pretty heavy going: HIV, suicide, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and drunk driving all figure prominently in the lives of narrator Ava Johnson and her older sister Joyce. It isn't long before crack addiction, domestic violence and unwed motherhood have joined the list--so, where's the pleasure? The answer lies in the sharp and funny attitude Cleage brings to her depiction of one African-American community in the troubled 1990s. Ava Johnson, for example, might be HIV-positive, but she's *******ingly forthright about it:
"Most of us got it from the boys. Which is, when you think about it, a pretty good argument for cutting men loose, but if I could work up a strong physical reaction to women, I would already be having sex with them. I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying I can't be a witness. Too many titties in one place to suit me."


As the trials and tribulations pile on, the experiences of Cleage's characters prove to be universal: death, love, second chances. Ava's acerbic, smart-mouthed narrative keeps the story buoyant; by the time this endearingly imperfect heroine and her cohorts have negotiated the rocky road to a happy ending, readers will be sorry to see her go, even as they wish her well. --Alix Wilber, Amazon.com

I Wish I Had a Red Dress
(2001)
A novel by

Pearl Cleage



Joyce Mitchell was widowed far too young when her beloved husband, Mitch, died in a tragic accident five years ago. Since then she's kept her hands full and her mind and heart occupied by running The Sewing Circus, an all-girl group she founded to provide badly needed services like day care and job counseling to young women, many of whom are single mothers. More important, The Circus is a place for lively, wide-ranging, heart-to-heart discussions that will help members grow into what Joyce likes to call "twenty-first-century free women."

All in all, Joyce has a full and rich life. She has her work, her family, her friends, and her town. But there are some nights when she crawls into bed alone and has to admit that something is missing. What she doesn't have is that red dress she keeps dreaming about or a social life that would accommodate it even if she braved the mail and bought one. To further complicate matters, she may not have The Sewing Circus much longer, as the state legislature has decided not to fund the group's vital but hard-todefine work with young women who are too often regarded as problems rather than possibilities.

Feeling defeated and pessimistic, Joyce reluctantly agrees to keep a date for dinner at the home of her best friend, Sister -- a reverend like no other-and finds not only a perfect meal but a tall, dark stranger named Nate Anderson. Nate has just joined the administration at the high school and his unexpected presence in Idlewild touches a chord in Joyce that she thought her heart had forgotten how to play. Nate feels the same immediate connection, but both have enough experience with broken hearts to take it real slow. Besides, they've got too much work to do to concentrate on falling in love....But life moves at its own pace, and as Sister says, "if you want to make God laugh, make plans." Particularly when it comes to matters of the heart. Joyce decides the trick is to stay focused and to remember that nothing is as sexy as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, especially if you tell it while you're wearing a perfect red dress....

Seen It All and Done the Rest
(2008)
A novel by


Pearl Cleage



From this New York Times and #1 Essence Bestselling Author Comes a Delicious Novel about Celebrity and Scandal!

The toast of Europe, Josephine Evans had spent thirty years abroad establishing her reputation as one of the finest actresses of her generation. In Amsterdam, she redefined who and what an African American diva could be, and her legions of loyal fans loved her for it. But when a war she didn't even understand suddenly makes her the target of angry anti-American protests, Josephine is forced to return to America to see if she can find a new definition of home. Camping out with her granddaughter in Atlanta's West End, Josephine tries to reclaim her old life even as she scrambles to shape her new one. An unexpected reunion with an old friend, Abbie Allen Browning, soon offers her a chance to set things right. Rallying with Abbie against an unscrupulous land developer who threatens to tear the community apart, Josephine finds herself playing the most important role of her life.