Some Soul to Keep

With a transparent clarity and exuberant energy, award-winning author J. California Cooper brings to life the sweetness and bitterness of the lives of five Southern Black women experiencing loss. In her signature folk tale style, Cooper captures stories of families and fate, of love and marriage, of death and the triumph of the human spirit.

"Her style is deceptively simple and direct, and the vale of tears in which her characters reside is never so deep that a rich chuckle at a foolish person's foolishness cannot be heard." --Alice Walker

"Cooper's stories beckon. It's as if she is patting the seat next to her, enticing us to come sit and listen as she tells complex tales about women, often poor women, chasing dreams of love, a house, and a family." --Ms.

"Cooper is humorous, wise, self-deprecating, and always expressive...her stories are about simple truths told with great energy that makes them shine." --Kirkus Reviews

"The stories are wonderful, very human tales that sparkle with warmth, humor, and often, revenge." --Library Journal

"Cooper's stories dramatize the wages of sin and the rewards of patience, as well as the occasional sweet taste of revenge." --Chicago Tribune

"Cooper knows how to 'talk' her stories to us, as though each of them is told by a kindly and concerned friend. The sound of them is lovely, memorable, haunting." --San Francisco Chronicle

J. CALIFORNIA COOPER is the author of two novels, four collections of stories, and seventeen plays. Homemade Love was the winner of the American Book Award in 1989. She has been honored as the Black Playwright of the Year, and has also received the James Baldwin Writing Award and the Literary Lion Award from the American Library Association. Ms. Cooper lived in California.

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