LeAnne Hardy, author and editor
  • Home
  • BIO
  • My Books
  • Blog
  • Editorial Services

Times and
Places

Beaded Hope

10/14/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
Gabby is fleeing a disintegrating marriage after years of fertility treatments and miscarriages. Heidi and her daughter Katie are hiding the secret of teen pregnancy that has ostracized them at home. Cassandra is a no-longer-up-and-coming reporter, hoping for the big story that will rejuvenate her career. The four of them end up on a missions trip to South Africa where they meet women whose faith and passion to help others transform their lives.


American Christian publishers want books with American characters because that is what American readers buy. Too often a story set abroad focuses so much on the Americans that the locals are no more than cardboard cutouts designed to fill plot roles or demonstrate what the author learned in research about the host country. Beaded Hope is different. It shows a commitment to dig deeply to really understand the women of Mamelodi township.

Picture
I picked this book up at the recent American Christian Fiction Writers conference after it won the Carol Award for women's fiction. I loved it because the African women were like women I have met. Liggett portrays them as heroes—women with strong faith in God who open their homes to orphans and children on the street, women who visit the sick and aren’t afraid to talk out loud about AIDS. These women don’t let their HIV status define them as people. Chloe wants a roof that doesn’t leak and an education for her son. Mighty dreams of studying nursing. Mama Penny is based on the real life “matriarch of Mamelodi” who has her hand in a dozen projects to improve life in her community. Jaleela dances a little jig when she meets her new American friends because she is sure God is going to use them to help her fulfill her dream—helping women to support their families by selling beadwork. They all remind me of people I have known. 

Switches in point-of-view to introduce the various characters slowed down the beginning a little bit. And of course, three scenarios also necessitated three endings. (Fewer than Tolkien!) But once I knew these women, both American and African, I was committed to seeing their journey through. A couple plot elements seemed unlikely from an African perspective, but the typical reader would consider me a real nit-picker to bring them up. (Okay. I know. I AM a nit-picker.) Liggett’s American visitors were more conscious of dirt and native dress than I am, but that may be because familiarity makes them less noticeable.

Calling Mamelodi a “village” is probably intended to convey the idea of a supportive community, but I suspect most readers visualize a smaller, more rural setting than the sprawling, peri-urban community of nearly a million people that is Mamelodi outside Pretoria. But in the end, "Mamelodi" is a just name. This story could have taken place anywhere in South Africa, urban or rural. 

Beaded Hope is about women helping women—African women helping each other and reaching out with grace to their clueless American visitors. The Americans go home changed, and I hope readers will be too.

Picture
1 Comment
LeAnne
1/7/2015 07:45:26 am

This post was moved from another site. All comments were lost.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    AuthoR

    LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents. Her books come out of her cross-cultural experiences and her passion to use story to convey spiritual truths in a form that will permeate lives.

    Archives

    September 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Author Interviews
    Current Events
    Devotional Thoughts
    Guest Blog
    Holidays Christmas
    Holidays Easter
    Holidays-Easter
    Holidays Other
    Holidays-Thanksgiving
    Missions And Missionaries
    Music
    My Books
    My Life And Family
    My Travels
    Non Fiction
    Orphans And Vulnerable Children
    Photos
    Publishers And Publishing
    Reading And Sharing Books
    Reviews
    Skating
    Theological Education
    Tributes
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly