Over A Cup of Joe

by Dale G. Rogers

OVER A CUP OF JOE is the story of Arlie, a mixed-race teenage girl, spanning a three-year period at the beginning of the millennium. It is a chronicle of her life journey as seen through her eyes, but related by her mother to her aunt over coffee one afternoon. The story details Arlie's struggles and triumphs as she is suddenly uprooted from the comfortable and only life she has known and thrust into a new and unsettling environment. She is burdened by coping with loss while simultaneously trying to build a new life. As time wears on, she finally finds a niche, however improbable, where she can thrive. In doing so, she touches the lives of other people in major ways. In return, she is rewarded by the others in a way she could have never imagined. Although she is entirely fictional, for many who have suffered similar losses or unsettling changes, "walking a mile" in Arlie's shoes might prove therapeutic. If you think you may be such a person, please sit down with a cup of coffee (or your favorite beverage) and listen as Arlie's mother Carol weaves the tale to completion to her Aunt Donna.

792 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2012