THE PENAL COLONY - SECOND HAND

Written with beauty and grace, award-winning author Shelley Bates pens the compelling story about the unstoppable force of the emergent self.

Dinah Traynell is trapped in a life that is not her own. Raised in a toxic church, she is forced to surrender mentally and physically to her sociopathic pastor’s every demand. Even while mourning the loss of her father, Dinah must hold strong to this role she’s reluctantly played all her life. And though she dreams of escape, this is the only world she’s ever known. When Dr. Matthew Nicholas appears on Dinah’s doorstep in the dark of night, he’s burdened with troubles of his own. Leaving behind his university position, Matthew has been traveling to escape the trauma of his old life--that is, until he’s robbed of what means he has left for his journey. Stranded, penniless, and still ill-at-ease with his life’s turn of events, he’d rather lend a helping hand on a stranger’s ranch than go home. Instantly drawn to Dinah, Matthew is torn between his desire to help her and the fear of getting too involved. But as Dinah struggles with the realization that the faith she grew up believing in is not real, and an abandoned baby is unexpectedly dropped into their lives, they must learn to open up and trust one another--if either ever hopes to break free of the past.

An artist lost to history, a family abandoned to its secrets, and the woman whose search for meaning unearths it all in a sweeping and expressive story from the New York Times bestselling author of Letters from Paris.Long, lonely years have passed for the crumbling Château Clement, nestled well beyond the rolling lavender fields and popular tourist attractions of Provence. Once a bustling and dignified ancestral estate, now all that remains is the château's gruff, elderly owner and the softly whispered secrets of generations buried and forgotten. But time has a way of exposing history's dark stains, and when American photographer Cady Drake finds herself drawn to the château and its antique carousel, she longs to explore the relic's shadowy origins beyond the small scope of her freelance assignment. As Cady digs deeper into the past, unearthing century-old photographs of the Clement carousel and its creators, she might be the one person who can bring the past to light and reunite a family torn apart.

What's your name? Where were you born? What is your date of birth? Simple questions that we are asked throughout our lifeand shows what makes us who we really are.

Powerful, well-crafted tales, The cruel realities, dream fantasies, and bitter escapes of Black women.