Torrie and Curtis were from different states in the United States. He was born and raised in George during the Great Depression. She was born and raised in Alabama during World War II. While education was encouraged in Torrie's community, sharecropping was given top priority in the rural area of Georgia where Curtis grew up. He was forced to leave school before finishing the fifth grade to work in the fields. Both Curtis and Torrie looked long and hard for ways to escape their challenging beginnings in the Jim Crow South. He found his way to New Jersey and from there into the military. After graduating from high school, she, too, joined the army. This move made all the difference for both of them. Their paths met in the military as next-door neighbors in Japan. They would go on to a shared path of togetherness for over half a century. It has been said that it is not so much where one starts out in life but where he or she ends up that makes the difference. The difficult beginnings of these two individuals turned into a success story that needs to be told. Curtis overcame his education deficiency and earned three college degrees, including an electrical engineering degree from the University of California in Berkeley where he completed a successful thirty-seven-year career. He also completed a career in the United States Army Reserves as a command sergeant major. He then became a successful real estate salesperson. While all this was happening, Curtis and his wife, Torrie, made time to become real estate entrepreneurs. Torrie, too, earned three college degrees and completed a thirty-four-year career as an educator. She retired from her second career as a captain in the army reserves then went on to became a holistic wellness practitioner. Today, Torrie gives more of her time to activities related to the performing arts, which has always been her passion. One can see evidence of her love for acting shining through all that she does. Curtis and Torrie's paths did join, but they will tell you they succeeded on their journey together because they understood the importance of remaining true to their individual paths where they stayed true to each of their own life's purpose. In other words, they enjoyed a life of "togetherness, without standing too close."

In January 2017, President Trump signed an executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – from entering the United States, effectively slamming the door on refugees seeking safety and tearing families apart. Mass protests followed, and although the order has since been blocked, amended and challenged by judges, it still stands as one of the most discriminatory laws to be passed in the US in modern times. Banthology brings together specially commissioned stories from the original seven ‘banned nations’. Covering a range of approaches – from satire, to allegory, to literary realism – it explores the emotional and personal impact of all restrictions on movement, and offers a platform to voices the White House would rather remained silent.

When the Bolshevik Revolution erupts in 1917 with pogroms, Mama decides she and Raizle must escape to America. Crossing the Atlantic, they reach Cuba, where Mama receives devastating news threatening to leave them stranded.

By the time Sylvia Richardson is eighteen, she has buried her parents; given birth to a daughter; and become a widow. It is 1942, and World War II has destroyed Sylvias dream of dancing in red heels through life to the melody of a Hank Snow record. Instead, she is raising her daughter, Sassy, alone in the coal mining town she vowed to leave behind. By 1955, thirteen-year-old Sassy has been brought up on a stiff dose of Mamas lessons on how to be a ladyeven though Mama drinks, smokes, and dates a myriad of men. But everything changes the day a woman accuses Sylvia of trying to steal her husband, forcing Sassy to come to terms with her Mamas harsh teen years. For Sylvia, only the support of kith and kin can rescue her from her mistakes. Spanning twenty years, Mamas Shoes is a haunting saga of love, despair, and forgiveness as a cadence of female voices weaves a spell of mountain lore and secrets, defines family as more than blood kin, and proves second chances can bring happiness. An absolutely wonderful novel, its setting a beautifully realized small Appalachian coal town, its characters so vivid theyre practically jumping off the page. Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger and The Last Girls

Born shortly before the beginning of the Great Depression, Sara Hall Kemp recalls the story of her life, full of success, tragedy and family bonds. At an early age she learns the hard lessons of loss and personal strength. Moving from farm to farm along the Glade near Acworth Georgia, the family was supported by her fathers farming and odd jobs. Farmers were hit hard during the Depression in the 1930¿s. But for many, farming was the only way their families could be fed. As her family perseveres through countless hardships and tender moments, Sara speaks of the love that holds a family together. It was very hard for farmer¿s children to get an education; everyone had to work. Her determination to finish school was not to be denied. She sometimes had to walk four miles to and from school. Through her military service and later career, Sara stands up for her own convictions. Here, she passes on those convictions and a faith in God to her own family and to the reading audience. Strength and determination taught Sara how to live her own life and put her trust in God. There is much to learn from such a strong woman.

Author Barbara Gray Armstrong came of age during Jim Crow when the color line was clearly drawn and America was divided into black and white. Black people were denied rights and endured discrimination. In Honoring My Journey, she weaves together both personal and public events as an exploration of what it was like being black in America. In this memoir, she shares stories from her youth, growing up in the 1950s and 60s in the South and prospering despite widespread bigotry. Representing just a slice of her life, Honoring My Journey narrates experiences with her parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, and classmates and of working as a nanny for a white family. Armstrong blends the details of her family and family history into a larger, societal context to tell a story that is both personal and universal. Honoring My Journey provides insight into what it was like growing up during such a turbulent time in the nations history.

Mama Didn't Raise This Woman is the story of a girl finding her way throughout various stages of her life with an emotionally and physically absent mother. In a time when the absentee father epidemic served as the blame for society's woes, Naja consistently wondered why she felt rejected considering she was not among the popular "statistic." As she aged, Naja learned more about why her mother could not love her as she needed. Yet, she never resolved why she was required to do without the one person she believed could redeem her. After years of questioning her place in a world where her own mother rejected her, Naja learns that her testimony will help other motherless children navigate through life knowing that they do indeed belong.