With five novels to their credit, Virginia DeBerry and
Donna Grant, best friends for 25 years, have turned a
friendship into the most successful and enduring writing
collaboration in African American fiction.
Donna and Virginia first met as plus size
models vying for the same assignments. They were both featured
in catalogs, ads, magazines and made national television
appearances. Their modeling careers led to the opportunity to
launch Maxima, a fashion and lifestyle magazine for plus-size
women, where Virginia was editor-in-chief and Donna the managing
editor. When publication of Maxima ceased, Virginia and Donna
decided to try writing a book together. The result, Tryin' to
Sleep in the Bed You Made, was a critical success, an Essence
Bestseller, as are all three of their books, and won the Merit
Award for Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library
Association, as well as the 1998 Book of the Year Award from the
Blackboard Bestseller List/African American Booksellers
Conference-Book Expo America. More than that, it hit an
emotional nerve with tens of thousands of readers from all over
the world who continue to write to Virginia and Donna nine years
after the book's publication. Far From the Tree became a New
York Times Bestseller, and Better Than I Know Myself received
two Open Book Awards, and been included on the Best African
American Fiction of 2004 lists of both Borders and WaldenBooks.
Donna attended Barnard College and is a
graduate of New York University. A Brooklyn native, she
currently lives in the borough with her husband. Before becoming
a novelist, she spent more than a decade as a plus size model,
represented by the 12 + division of Ford Models. During that
career, Donna was featured in catalogs and national ads, on the
pages of such magazines as Essence, McCalls, Family Circle and
Woman's Day, and has made appearances on "Today," "Good Morning
America," and "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."
Virginia is a former high school English
teacher from Buffalo, New York attended Fisk University and is a
graduate of SUNY at Buffalo. After almost 10 years in the
classroom, she moved to New York and started a successful career
as a plus size model. She was frequently featured in catalogs,
advertising, magazines and appeared on several television
programs including "The Today Show." She retired from modeling
after two years and became Vice President of BB/LW, an agency
for plus size and petite models as well as a spokeswoman for
Hanes hosiery. Virginia now lives in New Jersey.
(Bios
and photo. from official web site: 2 Feb 2009)
What
Doesn't Kill You: A Novel
Click to order via
Amazon
"I really thought I had a handle on life -- then it
broke off."
Opinionated, straight-talking, and witty, Tee is a fly
forty-something. Divorced since her daughter, Amber, was
young, Tee has been "handling her business," supporting
herself after her would-be songwriter husband took off
for L.A., and she's done all right. Organized,
responsible, hardworking, and loyal, Tee went from being
the first employee of a start-up purveyor of organic
lotions to the right hand of the president of what
became a major player in the home and personal fragrance
market.
Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant
talk to AALBC.com at BEA '08 about What Doesn't
Kill You
But then everything changes. First, she's outplaced
from her longtime job and doesn't tell anyone. Then she
gives her daughter the wedding of her dreams and, after
overindulging in champagne, Tee wakes up in bed with the
younger best man.
For the first time in twenty-five years, Tee doesn't
know who she is or what she's going to do every day.
Deep in denial, she continues to live her life as if
nothing has changed. After a series of financial
mistakes, miscalculations, and missteps compound her
already shaky situation, she's soon teetering on the
edge of bankruptcy. That's when Tee decides that it's
time for her to wake up and face reality.
Beyond "making money," Tee never really decided what she
wanted to do with her life. Then she just stopped
thinking about it and invested her hopes in someone
else's dream. Now it's her chance to invest in herself.
Can she step out on faith to follow her own dream?
From the bestselling authors of Tryin' to Sleep in the
Bed You Made comes a heartwarming tale of how true
friendship can overcome life's obstacles.
Gayle Saunders and Patricia Reid have been lifelong
friends, as close as sisters. When they were teens their
dreams led them down separate paths and away from each
other. But they reunited as adults, drawn back together
by a bond of friendship that stood the test of time.
Now Pat and Gayle co-own the Ell & Me Company, a
business they founded based on a character Gayle created
years ago for her daughter. Things are going well, but
real-life dramas ensue as each must face issues from the
past in order to protect the future.
Pat and Marcus look like the perfect
twenty-first-century couple -- smart, talented, each at
the helm of a high-profile enterprise and at the top of
their game. But behind closed doors their marriage is
challenged by the stresses of a two-entrepreneur
household. Will their professional pursuits leave them
time for each other and a family, or carry them into the
arms of others? Will a paternity claim prove to be too
much of an obstacle to overcome?
Gayle faces her own family drama and struggles to
maintain control of her life. Despite dating other men,
has she ever really gotten over her ex-husband, Ramsey,
the gambler who left her and their daughter, Vanessa, in
financial ruin? Gayle bends over backward to provide a
stable, comfortable home for Vanessa, and support her
dream of becoming a dancer. And Vanessa, a rebellious
and hurtful teen, seems just as devoted to making Gayle
pay for every mistake she has ever made. And what ever
happened to Ramsey?
In Gotta Keep on Tryin', Virginia DeBerry and Donna
Grant bring us heroines who remind you, for better and
worse, of women everywhere -- women who know that true
friendship keeps us grounded. And when things get rough
the bond between women can be stronger than any trials
we face.
Tryin'
to Sleep in the Bed You Made
Click to order via
Amazon
Paperback: 416
pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (January 8,
2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031238372X
ISBN-13: 978-0312383725
Gayle Saunders and Patricia Reid were total opposites
who chose each other as best friends when they were
children.Through the years they were raised together, as
close as sisters.Gayle, the beauty pampered by her
working-class parents, believes a man will make her
world complete.Pat, the brainy one, is the hand-me-down
child whose mystery parentage haunts her.She's
determined to finally make a home for herself: in the
executive suite at the top of her career.And then there
is Marcus Carter, linked to both women from the moment a
childhood tragedy bonds them in secrecy.Tryin' to Sleep
in the Bed You Made is more than a novel--it's the
reading experience that swept the country.You will be
drawn into the lives of these honest and believable
characters from the first page--and they won't let you
go until the last.
As a glamorous, successful fashion photographer,
adored by New York and Paris trend makers, Brett Larsen
has dedicated her life to capturing beauty. Yet the
corruption and betrayals that lie just beneath the
glittering surface of that world prevent her from
recognizing her own beauty and its glorious
possibilities.
The first collaboration by Virginia DeBerry & Donna
Grant, award winning, bestselling authors of Tryin' to
Sleep in the Bed You Made, among other works, shows the
depth of character and plot twists that would become
their trademark.
"It was an experiment to see if we could write
together," says Donna.
"It worked," adds Virginia.
Better
Than I Know Myself
Click to order via
Amazon
Paperback: 384
pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (April 14, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312341369
ISBN-13: 978-0312341367
The beloved #1 Essence bestselling authors of Tryin'
to Sleep in the Bed You Made now deliver a novel in
which you'll meet their most unforgettable characters
yet. Carmen, Jewel, and Regina could not be more
different. When they meet as freshmen at Columbia
University, they're pretty confident that a friendship
among them isn't in the cards.
Jewel is Hollywood royalty: as the teenage star of the
TV show "Daddy's Girl," her face is instantly
recognizable all across America. Now, though, she wants
two things-to get a serious education, and to leave her
controlling stage mother behind. Regina is the
definitive upper-middle-class African-American girl. Her
picture-perfect parents are what she calls "black Ward
and June Cleavers" and their goals for her are like a
stranglehold. No one can see, though, how far Regina's
rebellious side will take her (or how treacherous it
will become). Carmen is just trying to get by. A child
of the projects whose father is dead and whose mother
has vanished, Carmen has been raised by her abusive
brother. Columbia is the way for her to get a better
life-if she can hold down two jobs and keep her GPA up.
When the three of them meet, their lives are at a
crossroad. And as the years progress, from the 1980s to
the present day, they are challenged by drug addiction,
fame, secrets from the past, sickness, betrayal, and the
darkest things women can face. One of them won't
survive. But what will be the lasting legacy of their
friendship? Better Than I Know Myself is a novel of
heartache, triumph, tears, and the unshakeable bonds
among women.
Hardcover: 335
pages
Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312202911
ISBN-13: 978-0312202910
Celeste English and Ronnie Frazier are sisters, but
they couldn't be more different. Celeste is a doctor's
wife, living a perfect and elegant life. But secretly,
she is terrified: her marriage is falling apart and her
need to control the people around her threatens to
alienate her entire family. And Celeste allows no one to
see how vulnerable she really is. Ronnie is an actress,
living in New York. Her life, however, is a lie: she has
no money, has no home, and her life is held together by
"chewing gum, paper clips, and spit," though she wants
everyone to think that her life is one of high glamour
and budding fame. When their father dies, the sisters
inherit a house in Prosper, North Carolina. Their
mother, Della, is adamant that they forget about going
there and dredging up the past. Because Della has
secrets she'd rather not see come to light-secrets and
heartbreak she's kept from everyone for years. Neither
Ronnie, Celeste, nor Della realize just what their trip
to Prosper will uncover and they must discover for
themselves who they really are, who they really love,
and what the future holds for them. FAR FROM THE TREE
is a novel that asks the questions: can the past ever
truly remain hidden? Can mothers and daughters put aside
their usual roles long enough to get to really know each
other? Long enough to see they each have felt the love,
loss, heartache and joy that they share as women. And
can two strangers realize that they are, and always will
be, sisters?
Tryin'
to Sleep in the Bed You Made
Click to order via
Amazon
Hardcover: 384
pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (December 15,
1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312152337
ISBN-13: 978-0312152338
Curl up in a chair and enter
the lives of two unforgettable women whose joys and
sorrows you will never forget. And when you're finished,
call your best friend. With heart and soul, passion and
poignancy, Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made follows
the lives of two best friends, Gayle Saunders and
Patricia Reid, as they grow, learn, make choices, find
love, and find heartache.
From the time they were young, Gayle and Patricia were
raised like sisters, as close as two friends could be.
But they each had dreams that would take them far
away--and far away from each other.
Gayle was the beauty who believe that a man could make
her world complete. Patricia was the intellectual who
thought that rising to the top of her career would make
her happy. And then there is Marcus Carter, who has been
linked to both Pat and Gayle since the tragedy that
occurred when they were all children. Can either one
save him from himself? Can friends survive a love that
comes between them? Each of them gets what she wants,
but no one counts on the price they have to pay.
When they realize that dreams can be hollow and love has
its cost, they learn the most important lesson of all:
to never given up on the people who love you, and that
it isn't just blood that makes two people sisters.
What
Doesn't Kill You: A Novel
Gotta
Keep On Tryin
Tryin'
to Sleep in the Bed You Made
Exposures
Better
Than I Know Myself
Far
from the Tree
