Fire & Brimstone: A Novel [Paperback]

Laurinda D. Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

Chris Desmereaux, college graduate and single mother of two, staring down the food stamp line, looking for love, compassion, and stability, is unaware that she has just been awarded her own personal advanced ghetto degree the day Gayle Evans finds her personal ad in the paper -- and answers it.

Gayle Evans, toe-tapping, knee-slapping, make-you-wanna-holla Minister of Music with a divine gift from God. "Praise the Lord" is her mantra. Macking women is her game. Destroying every life she touches, Gayle brings more misery than harmony. She has a lesson or two to learn after she uses her "relationship with God" to break up a seemingly happy home.

Alternately set in Washington, D.C. and Memphis, Tennessee, Fire & Brimstone is an "in your face" tale that explores lesbianism and Black motherhood as both separate and integrated issues impacting the main character's role as a single parent, while opening dialogue on same-sex domestic violence, religious beliefs, bisexuality, negligent fathers, economics, and intra-racial caste systems among African-Americans. Depending on one's beliefs and opinions, Fire & Brimstone leaves no room for "in-between" emotions, leading the reader to ultimately draw his or her own conclusion as to what the ending actually means: Is homosexuality a sin, or does God love us as we are?

The author reminds us that gay women are everywhere, even in the African-American church -- a place where no one expects to find them.

Fire & Brimstone does an excellent job of testing the boundaries of 21st century morality.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Laurinda Brown's Fire & Brimstone is an engagingly provocative novel about two women who find comfort in one another as they struggle to find comfort within themselves. Brown's writing is refreshing, controversial, and right on point. Readers will be caught up in the novel from page one and be eager to discuss it with friends after the conclusion. Fire & Brimstone is destined to become a bestseller." -- Zane, National Bestselling Author of Addicted, Nervous and Skyscraper

"This novel is full of drama and lessons...an interesting one-sitting read!" -- Shonell Bacon, Author of Luvalwayz: The Opposite Sex and Relationships

About the Author

Laurinda D. Brown uses her writing to tell universal stories that apply to all cross-sections of society. A graduate of Howard University, she writes about life, not lifestyles. She currently resides in the Atlanta metro area with her two daughters. Visit www.ldbrownbooks.com, www.myspace.com/laurindadbrown and www.myspace.com/TheHighestPriceforPassion.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Strebor Books; Original edition (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593090153
• ISBN-13: 978-1593090159
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EYE OPENER, July 1, 2004

By 

I. J. JENKINS (LAVERGNE, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire & Brimstone: A Novel (Paperback)

Laurinda does an excellent job in reminding people that things are not always as they seem. She also opened readers eyes to highly publicized gay issues and showed that they took have issues just like other couples. Her story captivated me from page one and I could not put it down. I read it in 4hrs and not once was I distracted. While this story does pull all the emotions out of you, it is one that is well worth putting on your bookshelf. WELL DONE LAURINDA!!!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Redemption for the Soul--4.5 stars, September 1, 2005

By 

Sistahs on the Shelf "The Home for Readers of... (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fire & Brimstone: A Novel (Paperback)

FIRE & BRIMSTONE is the tragic story of Chris and Gayle, two "bag ladies" carrying heavy sacks of unresolved issues.

In the beginning, there is Chris, an intelligent woman with two degrees--in English literature and French--from Howard University. Just as she was set to take the world by storm, she becomes pregnant. While waiting for boyfriend Trey to grow up and become a man, she moves home to Memphis to raise her daughter. Chris thinks it's only a matter of time before he proposes and she has the perfect life: a doting husband and father (unlike her own deadbeat dad) and a beautiful baby. It doesn't quite work out that way, and Chris begins to explore an attraction for women she's harbored for years.

Chris first begins seeing Carol, a white-trash woman with a penchant for dark meat on the side. While that ends sourly, Chris meets Gayle.

Gayle is a story and a half. She's got some deep-seated issues from her childhood. Totally opposite from Chris, Gayle is impressed because Chris is unlike anyone she's ever dated. Never has she been with a college graduate or a woman so confident. It boosts Gayle's morale, especially since she's been in and out of trouble with the law and acts as if the world owes her something.

They begin dating seriously, and everything is cool at first. Gayle moves in quickly with Chris and her daughter, getting to know each other but not knowing the real story behind their facades.

Then things turn ugly. Really ugly. So much drama transpires in the novel from this point. Gayle began stealing from her job in order to get the things she thinks Chris deserves. When both ladies get caught up in unwise schemes, Chris finally realizes who Gayle really is, and the women twist in and out of each other's lives like a tornado, leaving one another destroyed in the wreckage.

As the title Fire & Brimstone suggests, religion plays a part in the women's relationship. Gayle, the minister of music at her church, spends a lot of time in the Lord's house and moving the masses with her heavenly voice. What bothers Chris is that Gayle can run up and down the aisles on Sunday, them raise hell throughout the week. Not one for attending church, Chris doesn't understand what religion is about. It's only when the unexpected happens that she figures out what God's been trying to tell her--Gayle's not the one. The message of the dramatic story is one of redemption. Both women had to be freed from the shackles of their pasts in order to claim their future. Whether homosexuality is acceptable is not the crux of the novel, but about accepting oneself.

Brown's Fire and Brimstone reveals heart and soul, and the wayward routes we take to salvation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!, September 7, 2005

By 

K. J. Joyner (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire & Brimstone: A Novel (Paperback)

Don't forget to read "Undercover" the follow up to this book. Chris, the main character constantly urked my nerves. She is conniving, advantageous, sexy and smart. God knows she was annoying but you learn to love her and her character. You learn that she has been through alot and her past is what has made her unbaring.

Her girlfriend, on the other hand is weak. Even though, she is weak you learn to love her too. I really wish they would turn this into a movie - not hollywood but an independent film; I don't want the book to lose it's edge or direction. Great book! I was suprised.