Fiona Murphy is excited to be sharing the release of her BARGAIN WITH AN IRISH DEVIL–and we’re excited to be helping share!
Title: Bargain With an Irish Devil
Author: Fiona Murphy
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Kindle | Apple | Kobo
Meet Krista, Maria, Becky and Ashlee. We are bringing our love of books and the authors that write them to you!! Hopefully you will enjoy reading them as much as we did ♥
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Release Blitz: BARGAIN WITH THE IRISH DEVIL by Fiona Murphy
Release Blitz: Madam Emma's Love Emporium by Mary Oldham
Title: Madam Emma's Love Emporium
Series: Poison Garden #2
Author: Mary Oldham
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Trope: Small Town
Release Date: October 31, 2024
BLURB
If Jane/Kelan/Amber/Emma chooses your small town, it is because there is work to do.
This season, she has opened a curio shop called Madam Emma's Love Emporium in the small beachside town of Yachats, Oregon. It is filled with crystals, tarot cards, and dirty novels.
True to form, Emma meets the locals over tarot card readings and soon finds herself in the middle of several situations that require her unique and permanent solutions.
Only Emma is a little off this season. Could her new, happy marriage be distracting her?
Her usually dependable formulas are a little too potent, causing her some issues. She wonders if it might be time to stop doing what she has always been good at and finally settle down.
PURCHASE LINKS
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AUTHOR BIO
Mary Oldham is a multi-award-winning author, and three-time Golden Heart Finalist with the Romance Writers of America in the areas of Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense. Mary resides in Portland, Oregon when she is not writing by the Pacific Ocean in scenic Yachats, the Gem of the Oregon Coast.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Cover Reveal: Visions & Shadows by Michelle Heard
VISIONS & SHADOWS BY MICHELLE HEARDRelease date: December 9th
Genre/Tropes: Twin Flame kinda love / Cool Powers / All the action & adventure / An OTT Protective & Possessive Hero / The MMC can hear what the MFC thinks / The MMC can feel what the MFC feels (Yep, there’s no hiding anything from him) / Steamy scenes with all the emotion your little heart desires
CHECK OUT THIS GORGEOUS COVER!
We are honored to share the cover reveal for VISIONS & SHADOWS by Michelle Heard!!
Get ready for an action-packed Romantasy with scorching hot romance and breathtaking emotion, coming on December 9th!!
Make sure to add it to your GR shelf!
A week before my eighteenth birthday, the guy I’m catching feelings for legit tosses me through a waterfall, only for me to find out everything I thought I knew is nothing but a lie.
My name is Alchera, and five years ago, my people wiped my memories and abandoned me at a waterfall so I’d learn what it’s like to be human. Turns out I have the destiny of saving humankind and a hotter-than-hell guardian to help me through the nightmare I have to face.
Adapting to a life of brutal training was not on my list of things to do after graduating. But the ten chosen ones depend on me, and I have no choice but to suck it up and do everything I’m told.
Trying to survive the new world I’ve been thrown into while my guardian can hear my every thought. Besides that, people are out to torture me for information about the visions I receive.
I’m not so sure I’m cut out for this.
Michelle Heard is a Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves creating stories her readers can get lost in. She resides in South Africa with her son where she's always planning her next book to write, and trip to take.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHeardAuthor
FB Readers Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/118971435201074
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichelleAHorst
Newsletter Signup: https://preview.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/p6m4o4
Release Blitz: Firethorne by Nikki J. Summers
FIRETHORNE BY NIKKI J. SUMMERS
Release Date: October 30th
Genre/Tropes: Standalone with a HEA / Gothic Mansion/ U.K. Setting / Slow Burn M/F / Morally grey characters / Enemies to Lovers / Secrets & Lies (They’re a twisted family) / Stalking / Kidnapping / Captive / Torture / Revenge / Praise/Degradation / Touch her and I’ll break your neck Dark themes (Check trigger warnings)
FIRETHORNE by Nikki J. Summers is NOW LIVE!
Cruel Intentions vibes with a sprinkle of Beauty and the Beast (there’s more than one book lover in this story), set in an English gothic mansion, Firethorne is waiting to welcome you.
Are you ready?
READ TODAY! https://mybook.to/Firethorne
Tropes Standalone with a HEA Gothic Mansion/ U.K. Setting Slow Burn M/F (but more than one character wants her ) Morally grey characters Enemies to Lovers Secrets & Lies (They’re a twisted family) Stalking Kidnapping Captive Torture Revenge Praise/Degradation Touch her and I’ll break your neck (That’s not a threat, it’s a promise!) Questionable use of food (sorry) A little bit of knife play but not the pointy end Dark themes (Check trigger warnings)
From International bestselling author Nikki J Summers comes a new dark, gothic, standalone romance.
They told me Firethorne would be my salvation.
But all I found were sinners hiding inside those walls.
Firethorne is a place best viewed from afar.
Firethorne is a place best viewed from afar.
Strangers aren't welcome in the dark, gothic mansion. A mansion steeped in twisted myths and urban legends.
No one really knows the truth about Firethorne or its elusive family.
If they did, they'd realise the reality is far worse than any of the secrets they've heard whispered in the town.
When Maya Cole's father falls on hard times, everything seems hopeless, until the day he's given a lifeline.
A live-in post at the Firethorne estate...
For him and his daughter.
He thinks all their prayers have been answered.
But Maya is no fool.
She knows to be careful what you wish for.
And after meeting the Firethornes, she learns that wishes sometimes turn into nightmares.
Devilishly beguiling and wickedly corrupt, they try to pull her into their games of lies and deceit.
But with Maya, they soon learn, what they can't have, they can't resist.
Which only makes the chase even sweeter.
But they're not the only ones chasing her.
Someone else is lurking in the shadows.
Watching...
Waiting...
Biding their time...
Ready to show her that the devil you know isn't always the one you should trust.
Nikki J. Summers is a romance addict who loves to write about strong, feisty heroines and dark, brooding alphas. When she isn’t locked away in her writing cave, she’s teaching primary school children, or lost in her kindle. She currently lives in Staffordshire in the U.K with her husband and two children.
Facebook group: https://bit.ly/2J1Hbwy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BooksSummers
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Book Blitz: Let's Not and Sleigh We Did by J.P. Sterling
Let’s Not and Sleigh We Did
J.P. Sterling
(Christmas Shenanigans)
Publication date: October 25th 2024
Genres: Comedy, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
Oh, oh, the mistletoe, hung where I did NOT see.
My brother’s friend waits for me and gets down on one knee—What is happening?Somebody stop it, please!
Oh, those dreamy blue eyes batting at me, and all the words he dares to say.
This is bad.
Like really, really bad.
We’re now planning a wedding day.
But it’s all for a good reason, not love.
Oh, cough, cough, let’s not bust out the L-word.
It’s purely business.
It is a solid plan until it isn’t.
So maybe I love him, but we agreed not to do that . . . whoops!Let’s Not and Sleigh We Did is a fake marriage of convenience, brother’s best friend, just-kisses-but-all-the-swoons romcom. Oh, yeah, there’s a fluffy cow too!
—
A ring.
Not just any ring, a rose gold band.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, a little harshly, the ring pulsating in my peripheral vision.
“We talked about this, remember?” Luke’s voice drops, rasping.
“We talked about marriage.” I tilt my head to one side, as if I’m physically dividing this argument in half., “But not this, and not in front of them.”
“You’re being modest.” He laughs, tossing a look back at his parents. “I thought it would be nice to share this moment with them.”
“You did?” my voice squeaks, as I’m totally blindsided and wishing I had at least a heads- up. The arrangement had sounded so much more business casual than what’s going on right now. A proposal on one knee is not business casual. This is my heart in my throat, and I’m about to throw up. “Where did you get a ring?” I hiss.
“I bought it today.”
“Today?” I grapple for my throat, praying something gives before I pass out.
“Yeah, today when I was thinking about you.”
Doing a hard pause on the word, you, he’s still holding the ring awkwardly in his hand. I frantically search his face for signs of a prank, but he doesn’t have an ounce of humor curved into a smile.
He’s one-hundred-percent serious.
Quakes rumble against my rib cage. This is an act. I’m clearly about to blow our cover as I’m acting so confused, but this whole thing is blowing my mind. “This is happening so fast.”
“It’s okay. Better than okay.” He takes my hand in his, holding it in front of him. “Ten years ago, you kissed me on a dare. You didn’t know it at the time, but I was already falling in love with you. You were my first kiss, but I knew in that moment, I wanted you to be my last.”
I blink. Everything about his proposal sounds genuine.
My gaze floats to his mom; her hands clasp together in front of her, but her gaze is piercing in my direction. Luke’s dad has a that’s-my-boy grin laced on his lips.
And Luke!
Luke’s winning an Oscar for his acting. His gaze dials right into mine, like it’s boring a trail through my eyes right to my heart. I can’t even tell it’s a fake proposal, and I one-thousand- percent know it’s fake.
It is fake . . . right?
J.P. Sterling grew up watching old reruns of Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore and fell in love with wholesome entertainment and slapstick comedy. She loves leaning into the over-the-top humor and full circle moments, especially if it means the underdog gets to shine.Aside from writing, she's also a wife and homeschooling mom, a holistic dietitian, a former college professor and lover of all things dark chocolate.
*No swears. Just kisses. No Blasphemies.*
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Release Blitz: Tempting Tess (The Serenity Mountain Series Book 8) by Cassie Colton
Title: Tempting Tess (The Serenity Mountains Series, #8)
Author: Cassie Colton
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: October 29, 2024
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
Devastated, destitute, and depressed Tess Ramerez is struggling to keep her taco truck, her only livelihood, afloat after the death of her beloved grandmother. Despite her financial and emotional situation, Tess does all she can to help others--even a young man who's embroiled in danger with a perilous gang. When Tess is injured in an attempt to save him, she has no trust in the medical field or the money to recover.
Retired Navy SEAL Noah "Taco" Whitaker puts his life on the line for others, facing off against sinister criminals for Serenity Securities. He finds solace in the spicier things in life, sexy women and scrumptious foods. And tacos top his list. The fiery, spitfire who owns his favorite food truck and keeps him on his toes with her spicy personality is an added bonus to his palate. But when a dangerous gang infiltrates their area and Tess is hurt, he'll do anything to help her. Getting her to agree to heal on Serenity Mountain is one of the toughest challenges of his life. Can he find a way to convince Tess to trust him or will tempting Tess be harder than taking down the gang who threatens them all?
AMAZON | APPLE BOOKS | NOOK |
“Mijo, your chicken soup tastes like boiled water with chicken grease. Have you ever heard of seasonings?” She shook her head, cringing.
“I’ll have you know, I cook for the team,” Taco informed her proudly.
“And they're still alive?” She acted as if the news surprised her.
Taco leaned over, tugging her long, silky black hair. “Heyyy. Do you think you can do better? How about this? We’ll hold a cook-off. If you win, I’ll concede and give you back your keys. Yes, I have them. If you lose, you’ll allow me to help get you back on your feet.”
She turned her head to study him. “Fine. Tomorrow, we’ll start from scratch. I’ll need my keys to get ingredients out of my truck.”
“I’ll hand them over tomorrow. Shall we eat dinner?” He stood and started to exit when he noticed she didn’t follow.
She bit her lip and held in the laughter, “I can't stand another bland meal. What did you even call what you fixed?”
“Meatloaf.” He deadpanned.
Laughter filled the air. “Then you better hurry and get it. It’s burning.”
Cassie Colton is a best-selling and award-winning author of romantic suspense, military, and contemporary romance. Always an avid book reader and storyteller, she worked for one of the happiest places on earth. There, she found her love for making magic and happily ever afters.
The Serenity Mountain Series begins her author journey, detailing the lives of former military men and women who have lost their way and found peace on Serenity Mountain. Like in every story, her characters have to fight through adversity to find happiness ever after.
Like life, Cassie writes about character struggles that sometimes become dark before they see the light, but she always provides a happy ending. She believes everyone deserves to find happiness and love because it is the only thing worth fighting for.
She now lives in Virginia with her wonderful family and service dog, Leia. She enjoys gardening, flowers, cooking, and learning about beekeeping.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Book Blitz: A Thousand Flying Things by Kathryn Brown Ramsperger
A Thousand Flying Things
Kathryn Brown Ramsperger
(A Bridge Between Shores, #1)
Publication date: September 20th 2024
Genres: Adult, Historical
A Pulpwood Queen’s International Book of the Year
A Foreword Indies Winner
A Sarton Fiction Award Finalist
A Chanticleer’s Hemingway Award Finalist
A Royal Dragonfly First Place in Fiction AwardA love lost. A soul restored. A decade of secrets and separation.
It takes a child to lead them home.
American Dianna Calloway is committed to educating children in the thick of war-ravaged 1990s Southern Sudan. Hampered by disease, a corrupt government and a fierce tribal leader who is harboring a mysterious young boy, Dianna’s passionate calling to help others in a dangerous country is only complicated by the chance meeting of a long-lost love, Qasim. Faced with the choice to protect a child or reconnect with the man she still holds dear, Dianna must make the most difficult decision of her life. Or must she?
Dianna and Qasim can’t be more different. He’s a worldly Lebanese Muslim in his 40s, from a political family, and she’s a 30-something white Christian American. They’ve been challenged by geography, culture, trust, career, and the passing of time. Now there’s a young boy who’s stolen Dianna’s heart. She’ll do anything to get him a visa out of S. Sudan. But when her mother becomes ill, she leaves Africa physically, but her heart remains there, as if it alone can protect the man who loves her and the boy who needs her. What choice does she have now?
Dianna’s alone in Africa, and nothing is as it seems …
It may be that no one needs love more than Dianna …
But a young boy is about to show her the way back home …Sweeping across continents and cultures, this captivating novel showcases Ramsperger’s work as a humanitarian journalist and will draw readers in with a gripping storyline, gritty details, and profound sensitivity. The novel is both timeless and timely, as war and climate change attack Sudan and S. Sudan once again. A Faulkner Wisdom Literary finalist and a Pulpwood Queen’s International Book of the Year, A Thousand Flying Things is a riveting, poignant read that will work to heal global misunderstandings and encourage conversations about perspectives and assumptions around race, country, and culture while also showing readers that love, not war, conquers all.
A Thousand Flying Things is the stirring, standalone second book in the A Bridge Between Shores women’s fiction series. If you like passionate characters, lyrical prose, and well-researched settings, then you’ll adore award-winning author Kathryn Brown Ramsperger’s international tale.
—
February 14, 1991
Piecewood Displaced Persons Camp Near Bor, Southern Sudan
Dianna peeks through the smooth, worn canvas flap of her thatched hut. It’s only 30 days since she arrived. It might as well be 300. She pulls on a T-shirt and shorts for her daily run before the heat sets in. She runs no matter where she is. Here, the children, already awake, follow her. It’s a game to them. They’d never imagine her reason for it.
She began running to maintain weight. Then, she ran to forget her past. Now, she runs to avoid thinking about her future. The endorphin rush is better than food, much better than romance. It’s a multi-purpose tool for boredom, anxiety, strategizing, or blotting out thought.
These children mean everything to her because her presence in Africa is what she has left. She has a year to reach them. A year from now, most will join the fighting, or the dead. Reaching even one would be enough reward for the time spent in this restless, ragged heat. Reaching a few would be a miracle. Books are her only tool.
Her eye catches a motion in her peripheral vision. At first, she jumps. It’s a crouching animal, a hyena, or worse. But no, it’s a tiny boy, no more than five. She’s about to stop and ask him why he’s here, but he disappears into the predawn shadows. She keeps running, but she asks another boy who he is.
“Khalil,” the boy answers with a shrug.
“Why is Khalil here?”
“He is with Commander Biel.” She doesn’t like the sound of that. What warring tribal leader would bring a family member? He must have kidnapped him, or worse, bought him. She’ll have to tell her colleagues, especially the social worker, Mirembe, when they visit next month. But she’s not sure who she can trust. Most of her colleagues are five or more kilometers away, not that she minds. The U.N. has a new policy to enlist regional staff for its programs. “Teach a man to fish,” and all that. She can’t trust any of them—or anyone in the bush—white or Black, Muslim or Tribal, Arab or Dinka, aid worker or resident—until they prove their trustworthiness. That usually means divulging their allegiance in this layered war. It’s useless hoping to make friends here.
She’s certain now that her teaching is a diversion, that less than a kilometer away, these boys are being prepared to shoot rifles, even missiles. Biel is training them for his war and pretending to teach them to read. Yet perhaps she can save one or two lives.
She must be careful how she presents it to the woman called Mirembe at the delegation. Without Biel’s approval of her mission here at camp, Dianna will be sent home. The government wants her here, but Biel, he’s forced to let her teach to receive U.N. aid. She suspects he’s using her as a ruse for more international fund- ing. A shiver courses down her back with drops of sweat.
That afternoon, the boys straggle into the schoolroom, their mouths curving up when they see her, their dark eyes bright, their fingertips reaching into her pockets, searching for Life Savers or cigarettes she brought to make friends. They speak to her with their eyes instead of their mouths. Her suitcase full of bribes—piles of unboxed Marlboros—is almost empty. Her supposed students turn up their noses at anything, like a pencil, that they cannot inhale with their lungs or bellies.
They are still a bit young to be sticking needles in their arms, but that too will come, once they see some action. She’s observed the dull eyes of teenaged soldiers-in-training too many times to imagine these bright-eyed boys’ futures would turn out otherwise. Young combatants are a tradition and necessity here. Sudan has had conflict, usually civil war, since the late 1950s, when the country claimed independence from Britain and Egypt. They’ve been fighting here as long as she’s been alive. The boy soldiers, only slightly older than the students, are starving for food but laden with pharmaceu- ticals. They march through wasted grassland covering oceans of untapped petroleum. All their fighting will never yield a drop for them.
As she waits to begin, Dianna takes out an emery board, a vestige of home. Her nails are crooked and cracked from the heat, drawing water, and chopping weeds from around the doorway to her hut.
Funny how its rough, sandy surface, which echoes this world but also reminds her of home, comforts her. Right, left, right, left, she files down the nails until she reaches the skin where the nail ends and the finger begins.
She is filing when more children skip in, brandishing a knife, a rusty fishing hook, or a spent grenade.
“What?” an almost-adolescent boy asks, peering at the strange stick in her hands. It’s the first time she’s seen him.
Time and again, Dianna has explained. Time and again, the chil- dren fail to understand. “It’s a tool for my fingernails,” she tells him.
“Need?” he asks, shaking his head, either mystified or judgmental. The children may learn to read before they learn the use of a mani- cure utensil. Yet still, she files. It is her statement of faith.
Some boys don’t ever show. Dianna watches them performing their chores, eating their stewy, beany fu, preparing for nightfall, marching in formation. Still, these rations are infinitely better than the boiled leaves and grass they had before. They never meet her eye, and she knows not to push. They come to her only if their curiosity to learn overtakes their fear of their tribal leader Daniel Biel’s disapproval. These children owe everything, including their survival, to him.
She’s been on the receiving end of Biel’s judgment and wouldn’t want to be in the path of his anger. It arrives without warning like a snake coiled under the brush. He’s not happy she’s here. The government forced this relationship, probably to meet some sort of educational quota. Countries with abuses of human rights and low literacy rates don’t receive much international aid. He wants money to fund the military he’s building that’s full of children, and he’s getting it by calling his training ground a language school. She’s little more than a babysitter.
Biel’s a funny one. She can’t figure him out entirely. She’s seen him take time with each boy, ensuring they have enough to eat, that they are groomed, that they have moments of play in addition to work. He calls them his “little men.” They worship him, and so they fear getting close to her.
She stretches, rolling her head to get out the kinks, rubs off the cold sweat, flicks away a minute, insistent insect. She wanders outside to see if anyone else is showing up and notices a flowering bush she can’t remember being there yesterday. She strolls over to smell its perfume. Bending over the plant, she expects a jasmine blossom’s gentle, white scent. Instead, thousands of swarming in- sects fly every which way. She backs up, shocked, trying to avoid them, batting them away from her face. What she thought were white petals are flapping wings that have eaten any bud that tried to appear. Things in the bush are never as simple as they appear. Impressions of people are even more deceptive. Like Biel. Maybe like Mirembe at the delegation, too. Even though she likes her, she can’t trust her.
Today she’s reading from The Jungle Book, but none of them are listening. The few boys in front of her are exhausted before the day begins from yesterday’s hard work and training. They probably have little time in their day for fantasy stories with talking tigers and snakes. Nothing like their lives. Mowgli is Indian, and the story is implausible and sometimes racist. A colonialist wrote it over one hundred years ago.
She sees Thon sneer each time she reads the label “Man Cub.” She should have thought to call him Mowgli throughout. Twenty years ago, when she was about Thon’s age, Dianna fell in love with this novel because of its foreignness, its animals, and its message, but it’s not what she should be reading aloud here.
“This book was written a very long time ago, and it’s about a jungle, not Sudan,” she explains, her gaze fixed upon Thon.
“Men are not animals,” the boy answers, picking at his front tooth with a blade of grain.
She nods in agreement and puts down the book, but Alier protests. “I want to hear what happens to the boy!”
“Shhhhh!” The entire room shushes him and shames him. His head hangs down.
She looks around the room. “We call this story a fable. It’s meant to have a message. It’s not meant to be reality but to reflect reality. Shall I continue?” she asks no one in particular, least of all Alier, though he gives her a pleading glance.
Chol rests his chin on his hands, almost asleep. Jok’s eyes wander around the room. Mabior comes up to her “desk,” made of two crates, and tries to dig into her pocket a second time. She hears the first threads rip from cloth. There, he’s ruined her jeans.
“Stop it!” Dianna hisses at him and almost slaps his hand but catches herself. He’s just a child, and she can’t afford to make enemies here. She catches his eye. He’s laughing at her. She feels new sweat trickling down from her forehead to the wrinkled crow’s foot that’s getting deeper beside her left eye, to the nape of her neck to the bare part of her blistered shoulder. Abe, almost a teen, sucks on an unlit cigarette. She doesn’t allow them to smoke in her presence, even though she’s their dealer. At least she’s kept that much under her control.
School is over for her as much as for them. They’ve been here almost an hour. She slams the book shut and drops it with a thud on her crates.
After class, the boys play football with an ancient, deflated soccer ball. They use tent poles as goal posts and the younger boys as goalies. She brings her old Polaroid camera out. The boys drop their football and race toward this contraption, a camera from
her past, but an object these boys have never seen. The resulting yellow, blurred images create quite a stir in this little camp. The children love to see themselves. They delight in making faces for the camera. They even primp sometimes, hoping she will choose to snap one of them. It is more than a conversation starter; it is a showstopper, marketing her words with their pictures.
She lets the boys roam around the pile of dusty photos and moves back to the shade of the canopied “schoolroom.” Its stale air reminds her of her days in her North Carolina frame house, pre-air conditioning. As a girl, she lay in her four-poster, the air settling above her bed like a bubble too thick to prick. Moist but unyielding, it hovered as she lay in wait to leave that bedroom, that house, just as she is standing by to leave this place. She lets her thoughts unravel, barely noticing the boys at play.
She is hard pressed to determine which makes her feel emptier. This “schoolroom” is not much more than a tent. On rainy days, they must retreat to the tiny cinderblock closet of books,which is even more stifling. At least in North Carolina, she could visit the library. Books could make her forget the heavy air, the heat electrifying her spine, her mother lying down in the next room, in her own sort of limbo. Books could even rid her of the pain of her monthly cycle or empty stomach when she was sent to her room without dinner. Reading’s more important than running. Reading is more import- ant than food. It fills the emptiness of this place when she longs for love and attention. Yet would words ever mean as much to these boys as they did to Dianna? Would they lay down their rifles to turn the pages of the books she provided? Her mind pushes against the languid heat that presses her into the earth, and her lungs try to take in more air. The smell of overused cooking oil, reminiscent of the many meals fried in it, cuts the air like a scythe. She longs for just one ice cube. That is when she sees a young child’s hand.
The hand waves at her from behind a large nearby rock. Flat on top, nature’s idea of a throne, the stone hides the rest of the child’s body. The hand itself, though, is a work of art. It is a hand a hyena could tear off with one swift chomp. Tiny, ragged fingernails, dirt caked over hidden fingerprints, flies buzzing this way and that. Yet the wrist is another thing altogether. Smooth and shiny and strong. She takes up her Polaroid and begins snapping. The shutter clicks, and the photos whirl out until the film is gone. They fall at her feet, creating a small dust storm. The specks float suspended in the air, then rest one by one on the photos.
She wants to wash his hands to see what lies beneath this grime, so she walks around the rock obscuring the body that owns this miniature man’s hand. It’s the boy from this morning.
“Hello?” She wonders if he will understand even that simple greeting.
“Hey,” he answers.
Her eyes go wide. How does he know that word? Most boys know “hi” or “hello,” but seldom use it because she greets them in their own language. And this boy looks barely old enough to speak many words at all.
“I teach myself book.” The boy smiles. “You help?”
“Do you speak English?” Dianna fumbles in a mixture of English, Arabic, and Dinka.
“Engoish.” The little boy smiles again, attempting to mimic her sounds. Then, he slaps her hand with his, reaches in her pocket, finds an English tea biscuit, and pops it whole into his mouth. “Tank.”
Dianna laughs at the mispronunciation, wondering how long it took him to learn the sentence he greeted her with. Her heart is in her ears. She may have found her student.
“Name?” she asks.
“Annee,” he answers.
She laughs again, this time a broad, imp-like Dianna laugh, a laugh she barely recollects.
“No, that’s my name. I’m Dianna.” Her fingers point to her chest, correcting him, showing him that this is how to pronounce her name. His beautiful, muddy palm slips around them. “You?” She points at his chest.
“Ka. Leel,” he answers, sounding it out just as she did for him. She does not know if both words form his name, whether it is a varia- tion of some Nuer pronoun, or whether he has made it up himself.
“You mean this name?” She writes it out for him in the sand, and he nods. “How do you know my name?” she asks.
He doesn’t understand the question. He simply stares at her with a certain fascination. Biel must have mentioned her to some of the boys. That was a good sign.
Khalil giggles, and his broad smile, still with its baby teeth, makes her want to hug him, but she doesn’t. It is possible he was plucked from his village before he even answered to the name his mother called him. Many of these boys were orphans, and still, others were sent away, pawning, they called it. They were lent to others so that they—and the rest of the family—would not starve. The official word was that they were child laborers. Yet turning over this practice to reveal its dirty underside showed a far grimmer picture: slaves, sex slaves, child soldiers. Sacrifices, yet sacrifices with the hope of a fuller belly, and fuller for the conscripts than for their parents.
They walk hand in hand toward the canopy. They plop onto the ground, and he curls his elbow into her lap. Polaroid pictures look up at them through the earth like a faded carpet. Khalil picks up his image and squints. “Khalil?” he asks.
“Khalil.” Dianna puts away her camera while smiling at his realization that he is the subject of the photograph. She chooses a book from a nearby stack, opens it to page one, and begins to read. As she mouths each word, he repeats it after her. He points at the detailed illustrations of leafy branches and curvy women in full skirts and stays. He points at the letters. Beatrix Potter’s bunnies and hedgehogs dance in a land of cobras and hippos. He’s interested in books! She wants to get to know him, help him succeed.
She has just broken a professional and personal credo—never get close to anyone again, especially not a client or student. She smiles in dazed but sated wonder. She always thought it would be a tall, dark man walking through camp who posed the most risk to her heart. And here, this little boy has grabbed it with one sentence and a few fingers. She will give him a good washing, make sure he is free from parasites, give him a T-shirt and a book all his own. Tomorrow, she will speak to Biel. This boy could not possibly be old enough for military training.
Khalil seems in awe of her classroom, the only one of its kind in the camp. He runs his hands over the wall and floor, and his deep-set, round eyes rove up and down again. People here at camp reside in thatched mud huts or sleep under flimsy tents. Many boys sleep in the open air. This “schoolhouse” has one cinderblock wall, though the other sides are open to the air. His delicate hands glide over each brick’s cold, rough surface, one by one, as though it were a sculpture. If he even knows what a sculpture is. She fills a vat with all the cold water they can haul, pours soap into it, and orders him in. Khalil is having none of it. He is not getting his uniform wet. He crouches in the corner, still all smiles, but head wagging from side to side, “No.” She hauls him in his strange uniform, which resembles ragged shorts and surgical scrubs more than fatigues, and dumps him into the vat. He couldn’t weigh more than forty pounds, but he is arms and legs and sharp nails, flailing, no other sound. Then he is still as she pours the soapy water over him—and scrubs, scrubs his work-torn fingernails. He relaxes and blows bubbles. And gradually, the smooth, burnished skin shines through.
Kathryn Brown Ramsperger began her writing career with newspapers, then investigative reporting. As a researcher and writer for National Geographic and Kiplinger, and later, as a humanitarian journalist working throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, she met countless courageous people facing disaster, famine, and war. Their stories inspired both of Kathryn's novels. Kathryn now lives in Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC with her husband. They have two adult children, bound for their own creative adventures.
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