Tahitian Pearl (From the Gritty Dune to an Oasis in the Sun)

This novel is a story set in New York on Long Island and in the Palo Alto - Berkeley areas of California in 2002.  It tells the parallel stories of an Affluent African American Stanford University student and her mother.  The main characters, Naiyah Harland and her mother Jade are both struggling with demons from the past, present and future. Naiyah is dealing with her pregnancy by another woman's fiance as well as issues of substance and alcohol abuse. Her mother Jade is dealing with the unfaithfulness of her husband who left her for a Brazillian bombshell and a secret from her past that has unwittingly destroyed lives. It is a story of redemption, of "Setting Yourself Free and Letting Love Win."  The choice is theirs, but will only be obtained if and when they recognize their need. to be free from the demons that haunt them.