Amazon BEE-CON BOOKS Category:  Drama Publisher: BEE-CON BOOKS ISBN-10:  0971583854 Type: Fiction Pages: 385 Copyright: March 19, 2003 ISBN-13: 9780971583856 "Pearl and Angela" is a suspense-filled story that profoundly chronicles the emotional damages of hatred and cruelty and the miraculous healing power of love. The characters come to life, providing on-the-edge-of-your-seat entertainment and intrigue wrapped in a timeless love story. Pearl and A Pearl and Angela Pearl and Angela is a suspense-filled story that profoundly chronicles the emotional damages of hatred and cruelty and the miraculous healing power of love.  The characters come to life, providing on-the-edge-of-your-seat entertainment and intrigue wrapped in a timeless love story.   Pearl Little grew up an only child in a typical late 1940’s Midwestern town in the shadow of a maniac, Barry “Pop” Little.  Pop had ranted his expectations all of Pearl’s life, and after his death, his words haunted her.  A trip to the Fair with a young man Pearl had fallen in love with and his best friend, without Pop’s permission, tragically altered their lives.   Angela Bowman was tossed from a car and left on the side of the road in town and Pearl happened upon her.  Pearl brought Angela home and the two women’s lives flourished, clashed, and healed.  Angela had been sold at the age of six to a brothel owner in a nearby town.  To escape her past, Angela craved the one thing she thought would set her free . . . money. Money to run, to live the high life, to be free of anything she found confining.   Pearl and Angela came together and each supplied the other’s needs.  They developed a comfortable existence and then the unimaginable happened.     Excerpt CHAPTER ONE “If colored folks could move the energy they use getting through and getting over to getting it right, they would be running this joint by now,” Pop ranted from the caverns of Pearl’s mind as she watched the young couple stroll leisurely on the road past her expansive, manicured and fenced front yard and porch. Without being able to see them clearly in the distance, Pearl knew the teenage boy was tall, dark and slender with dimples deep enough for that girl to plant and root dreams in, and she was a pretty little thing with all of her curves in just the right places for him to weave fantasies around. That neat fellow said something that tickled her and she let out an un-ladylike yelp and buried her face in his sleeve. His head bent slightly and he inhaled the intoxicating scent of her hair and perfume. It obviously pleased him because he rested his chin on top of her head momentarily and let out a deep, longing sigh. Wanting to embrace her, his free hand lightly stroked her shoulder. Pop bellowed from long ago, “Fool, if you don’t take your hands off that girl, you’re mama will be hanging on the side of your coffin pleading with the Lord to give you back!” Then, from behind Pearl came a loud, sharp, “Bang!” The slamming of the screen door on Pearl Little’s neat, three bedroom, blue two- storied house startled her and wiped away all thoughts of the blissful couple and Pop’s age-old comments, but she knew who the culprit was and held her peace with the irritating distraction. Pearl’s father, Barry Little, known as “Pop”, would have come out of that rocker and popped Angela so hard that the lesson of allowing the screen door to slam shut would only need to be taught once. Pearl, however, could not make herself rise to strike Angela or even muster the anger necessary to yell at her. After all, Angela Bowman was Pearl’s gift from God, being the only person left in the world worth mentioning who cared if Pearl lived or died. Angela had come out to join Pearl on the porch for a while and she carried in her hands a tray with two tall, perspiring glasses of iced tea and a bowl of Pearl’s favorite fresh, ripe strawberries topped with whipped cream. Angela hummed happily as she sat the tray on the table that separated the two high-back, white, wicker rockers and took in the beautiful scenery surrounding the house. It never ceased to amaze her that she had been rescued from what she thought of as the bowels of existence and been brought to this breathtakingly peaceful safe haven with no questions asked, no bills presented and no restrictions or stipulations. How Pearl had managed to simply overlook the despicable state Angela was in when she stumbled upon her on the road fascinated the younger woman. All Pearl had said to Angela that late, winter afternoon was, “Child, you look on the outside like I feel on the inside . . . beat up and dragged through the mud. Come on and let’s try to clean you up.” Angela had followed Pearl home that day and not left for more than a few hours to shop in town since then. Noticing the cuddling couple on the road, Angela shook her head and said, “Now Pop wouldn’t have cared much for all that touching, would he, Pearl?” Glancing at the couple again, Pearl replied, “Not a bit. And a girl with good sense would never let Pop see her in that compromising position either.” Pearl smiled wanly at something she had not shared with Angela and offered instead, “When are you going to spread your wings and try flying again, Angela? This house is no place for a young, pretty thing like yourself.” “Fly?” Angela asked with a twisted frown on her face. “Not ready yet, Pearl. Walking will have to do for me a little while longer–that is if you don’t mind me being here.” “You know I don’t mind. I just remember how I felt about life when I was your age. How much I looked forward to trying to be prettier to that special boy in my life each day. That boy who made going to school a pleasure and a trip to the grocery store an adventure.” Shocked, Angela asked, “Did Pop know you felt like that about some boy, Pearl?” “Oh, no. Pop thought I loved reading, writing and geography, but the truth was I loved Kendall. Pop never knew that I spent most of my days writing Kendall’s name over and over.” Sipping from her glass, Angela said, “I bet you and Kendall didn’t do what those two are doing right now.” Pearl smiled and shrugged and never offered another syllable on the subject of Kendall Stratton. “What did you do with yourself today, Angela? Did you go over to Shockley’s Market and ask Mr. Shockley about that bookkeeping position he had open?” “Uh, yes, I did. He offered me the job, Pearl, but I don’t think I should accept it.” “Why not?” Looking down into her glass as if the answers to the universe would magically appear at the heart of one of the cubes of ice, Angela answered distantly, “He doesn’t want me to count his money, Pearl.” “Well, what does he want? That’s what Raynard told me he wanted from you,” Pearl snapped with an expression of disgust on her face. “He would tell you that. You’re such a nice woman that you would never suspect the real reason. Did you ask him to hire me, Pearl?” Pearl responded sternly, “No. Raynard asked me if I thought you could handle his books for him, and I told him I was sure you could. I mean you handle my house accounts better than I do. I actually have money I know about at the end of the month. But, that’s not the point here. What does Shockley want from you, Angela?” “What they all want, Pearl. What would Pop say he wanted?” Not needing to conjure what her father would have said, Pearl heard Pop’s voice anyway. “She’s a pretty, clean, young woman. That alone makes a man lick his chops. He can brush her smooth, soft skin with the back of his hand and feel his fluids surge. If he ever closes his fingers around her arm, his satisfaction will be the only way he lets her go.” Pearl snapped angrily, “I’ll set that nasty old piece of trash straight when I go to town tomorrow, Angela. Raynard Shockley won’t be trying to get to you through my stupidity.” Rising from her rocker suddenly, Pearl spat, “I’ve been stupid all my damn life, and somehow men have always known it. They’re still trying to take advantage of me!” Pearl strutted across the porch, opened the screen door, entered the cool foyer, and let it slam shut. Angela followed her friend inside saying, “Pearl, it’s not your fault that he did that. I don’t even think Mr. Shockley is completely aware of why he asked after me. I just think that he wants a young woman to look at from time-to-time through his long day and I’m not doing anything else. I really could work for him, Pearl. I do need the money to start paying my way some around here.” “You don’t have to sell yourself to that old lecher to pay your way around my house! No woman should ever have to sell herself!” Stroking Pearl’s shoulder to soothe her, Angela said softly, “I don’t know why I said that to you. Mr. Shockley has never done or said anything to make me think he wanted anything from me, Pearl. I saw that little girl on the road being loved by that nice boy, and I can’t picture myself in her shoes; that’s all. My world was never nice and pretty until you came along, Pearl. I’m sorry I said that. Forget it. Let’s go drink our tea and enjoy those strawberries.” Pearl looked into Angela’s sad eyes and said, “I know that life hasn’t been kind to you, Angela, but you can make it right. I’ll help you make it right. I promise.” “I thought Pop said that we couldn’t make …,” Pearl’s hand covered Angela’s mouth, stopping Pop’s version of women’s roles in the world from spilling into the air. Angela nodded in agreement with the older woman and the two went back out to the porch, but this time Angela closed the screen door softly, the way it was supposed to be closed. The way Pop would have wanted it.

Allbooks Reviews
Violence, vengeance, guilt, generosity, and grace are all woven into the fabric of "Pearl and Angela." The novel is set in the late 1940s, a time when a doctor's housecall costs just three dollars and even a small town has one market for colored people and another for white folks.

Pearl is a middle-aged women with a lonely and shattered spirit, her legacy from the abusive father who raised her. Angela is Pearl's gift from God: a young woman with a tragic past who has found safety and real friendship in Pearl's home. Their lives are linked to that of Raynard, a bachelor who runs Shockley's Market and who longs to be a father. As the story of this trio unfolds over several years, family secrets and past tragedies are revealed, and there's a hint of the redemptive power of compassion.

The multi-talented Bernadette Y. Connor has been a singer and a communications technician, and is the author of three other novels including "The Parcel Express Murders."

In her latest book, Pearl, Angela, and Raynard are complex characters who must each find a way to come to terms with the past, whether by making peace with God or by silencing the voice of the dead. You're quickly drawn into their story and find yourself willing the three friends to triumph over tragedy.

This novel will be enjoyed by everyone who believes in the extraordinary power of love to heal festering wounds of physical and emotional abuse.

Angelia Menchan - APOOO Reviewer
Pearl and Angela by Bernadette Y. Cooper is a story of female friendship, the search for love and overcoming the expectations of family. Pearl Little is a woman who came of age in the 1940s. Her paternal expectations for her were ones that were different than what she wanted for herself. She goes against her father's wishes and finds herself in a situation that permanently alters her life. She is forever recovering from that incident and the voice of her father is a constant in her mind. Pearl is a woman full of secrets and regrets.

Angela Bowman is a young woman who has been compromised in the worst way possible. Her parents sold her to a brothel at the age of six. This sets Angela on a course that forces her to believe that money is the only way out. Money will allow her to own herself, and be anyway that she chooses to be.

Pearl discovers Angela on the side of the road where she has been abandoned, bringing her into her home and her life. Though a bond has been forged, it is immediately clear that these women know little about the other. The novel explores and reveals to the reader how people can coexist in a space but not really have a clue about what is going on or has gone on in the lives of their family and friends. Pearl and Angela takes the reader on a journey of discovery about what makes these women tick and how much hatred, fear and cruelty is covered by that relationship we call family. There is a subtle manipulative nature to Pearl and a more blatant one to Angela. These differing personalities make for an interesting tale, particularly the way it impacts the men in their lives.

Pearl and Angela is a recommended read for readers interested in a narrative style novel, that explores the complications of family and female relationships. There is also a message of overcoming what is past and focusing on the future.


Cheryl Robinson - Just About Books
Pearl and Angela is an emotional book about coming to terms with the past. The setting is in the Midwest in the late 1940's. Pearl grew up with an abusive father and Angela had a tragic past. Somehow when they find each other, their lives change. Angela found safety in Pearl's home and Pearl found friendship in Angela's company. The two women lived together and developed a comfortable existence. And their lives are linked to Raynard--Pearl's friend and Angela's boss. All three, must co-exist and come to terms with their past and create a future. The reader is drawn into the story as we watch three friends deal with life. It is a book full of suspense and intrigue that unravels a timeless love story. Bernadette's writings always make a social point.