JO PARFI7T

Journey with her as she takes flight into an unchartered world. Envy her courage as she escapes social and fam ily expectations for black girls and continues her search for identity. In an interview, the author explained, 1 want people to know this story exists. . .and 1 hope they will see how 1 could change my mindset, and that if 1 can do it, then so can they. Black and Abroad not only gives us faith ourselves, but also the courage to believe we can change.
Revicwed by Laura Wil

MOVIINO LANDSCAPE
1

A Moving Landscape Ja Parfltt Summertime Publishing 135 pages, paperback, 12

who has lived in another country will have, no doubt, done some collecting of their own. This could range from keepsakes to artwork; for oth ers, it could be the words they weave together. Jo Parfitt has been writing her,whole life a passion and pastime that became. her saving grace when she had to confront the

ness. When she finds herself on her own in the Netherlands at age fifty with a daughter to care for, Niamh realizes that the time for healing is now. The book begins with Niamhs revela FJNDING HAPPINESS tion before jumping right back into her AFTERAPASTF1LI~E WITH PAIN earliest memory, and begins to uncover the past she had tried so hard to hide through out all those years. Each chapter includes her age at that time in the story in addition 4. to the chapter title, making t easy to follow. The Singing Warrior paints beautiful, heart-wrenching, powerful, and sometimes N~arnIi Nl Bhroin disturbing pictures that engulf the reader and pull them into the pages. Bhroin is an extremely gifted writer and 1 had a hard time putting the book down. A remarkable story by a remarkable woman.

fl,erI,n~r ii, pociry it

Iiie o~Qrscns

Rcvicwccl by Ti1+~anyJansci

My Dam Life: Three Years in Holland Sean Condon Lonely Planet Publications 245 pages, paperback, $13.99
-

Sean Condon

My Dam Life
Three Years in

Ja

Parfitt

then-seemingly insurmountable challenges of being the wife in a new country. In A Moving Landscape, Jo shares with us the poetry she has been keeping throughout her more than 20 years of expat travel - including the years before and in between - capturing the highs, lows, laughs and tears of her personal experiences. The emotional as well as the physical landscapes changed, and while we may not visualize each and every physical landscape captured by her words, in them we recognize some of our own emotional landscapes. We are invited to share and reflect, and simply take a moment to enjoy some contemporary poetry about a subject with which we can.identify.
Rcvie~vcd by Deborah Valcnunc

The Singing Warrior Niamh Nl Bhroin Summertime Publishing 272 pages, paperback, 13.99
-

1f you took Bridget Jones, turned her into a male, made her Australian and dumped her in the Netherlands, you would have Sean Condon in this delightfully funny account his three years in Amsterdam. Forced into expat status when his wife gets an over seas assignment, the unemployed Condon finds himself making a go of it in new country. Unexpected encounters with celebrities, illegal tenancies, illusive visas, bankrupt magazines, and a run-in with the Happy Hooker herself fl11 Condons days in his new home Tongue-in cheek, he shares ups and downs, idiosyncrasies, sights and sounds, and basic day-to-day life with an extremely interesting cast of characters in an extraordinarily detailed and nuanced (mostly) true-tale. My Dam Life also features history and lang uage notes that really help the reader get a feel for the Netherlands and Condons experience here. This is a quick, enjoyable read (even the footnotes are funny) that will make your sides split long before the end.
Revicwed by TiR~anyJansen

Holland

A touching tale of love and strength, The Singing Warrior takes you along on Niamhs journey from Ireland to London to Greece to the Netherlands and, finally, to inner peace. .Sexually and physically abused as.a child, Niamh looks for love in all the wrong places as she strugg les to bury her past and find happi

All books available on Amazon

THE XPAT JOURNAL

65