cover rub marks, dents, and scratches. minor edge and corner wear. minor page corner wear. no marks on text.

2011 Red Lead Press paperback . 282 pages. 9" x 6".

Though based on a real person's life, Cries In The Night: Mimi's Travail is a purely fictional account of a Tiv girl emerging out of her pagan culture and making adaptations in her life, simply to survive. Her journey is not like that of Christian; rather, her pilgrimage is earth-bound, thrust upon her through life experiences that would crush most. Through her life experiences, she is introduced to Christianity. She comes to see the harsh reality of her father's pagan life; she experiences pain inflicted by brutal men but keeps alive with the hope of reuniting with her family Her search is for some kind of earthly haven, an education, and a return to help her own people. I have written about the Tiv tribe from my own experiences in Nigeria where I lived and worked for a period of twelve years, now fifty years ago. Tiv proverbs are the salt and pepper of conversation, and I used these within the text to anchor it into the reality of the Tiv land. In Part One, Mimi is an unfortunate, naive bush girl struggling to get into the first year of high school. Part One is her story in her remote bush village, with her brutal father and her sad mother; it is her genesis. Part Two shifts the narrative to America. Her points of view are shaped by her college schooling and her new experiences as a young black woman in a white society that has not yet heard King's words, "I have a dream!"