H. Victoria Hargro Atkerson is an imaginative and masterful storyteller who enjoys the creative process so much that she spends eight to ten hours a day perfecting her skills. She lives between the pages, paragraphs, and words of her stories.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia in a large close knit family, she listened as her elders weaved words into imaginative and colorful stories. She now resides in Philadelphia, PA.
Buttermilk
Bottom
Click to order via Amazon
Paperback: 396 pages
Publisher: Xlibris, Corp. (December 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1456884387
ISBN-13: 978-1456884383
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
The #8 Bestselling eBook on AALBC.com for 2012!
The people…
Every neighborhood produces a busybody, a comedian, a gossip, a
blabbermouth, a storyteller and a historian. Everybody knew everybody and
everybody knew everybody’s business. One could do little to keep people out
of their private affairs; in fact, the concept of privacy was an alien
concept to its inhabitants.
They portrayed a spirit of determination and a strong will to survive in spite of fear, harassment, extreme poverty, and torment. They gave each other energy, humor, and courage, which pierced, then awakened their minds and souls, allowing them to endure under the constant pressures.
The events…
The activities on Friday and Saturday nights made this neighborhood
legendary. There was always a fight, a shooting or a stabbing that occurred
bringing in outsiders to cart away the dead bodies and guilty parties.
Outsiders were anyone black or white that did not live within its
boundaries.
The most unwelcomed outsider was the police department, which had a very complex yet dependent relationship with the residents. They came when there was a need, and yet they were not welcomed because the residents very often fell victim to their persistent prejudice and abuse.
The place…
The entire community sat in a gigantic ditch, surrounded by acres
of long-needle pine trees, covered with thick, uncontrollable, unrelenting
kudzu vines.
However, it was a neighborhood with its own set of values, beliefs, and
practices that its people often distorted and mutilated, originating out of
hate, prejudice, and racism; but those same conditions served as the glue
that held its people together.
Its name…
Buttermilk Bottom
Immerse in this remarkable novel born out of author H. Victoria Hargro
Atkerson’s fascination with the forbidden neighborhood that had an equally
fascinating location and history.
The story, like the characters enclosed in these pages, is sitting in the
historically correct backdrop of the struggle for civil and human rights,
which unfolded slowly in cities all over America.
Follow the characters’ colorful lives as you browse through the pages of
this book.
Walking
Among The Kudzu
Click to order via Amazon
Hardcover: 314 pages
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (November 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1453528768
ISBN-13: 978-1453528761
Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.9 x 6 inches
Following her debut "Stones Along The Path, Part 1 & 2," Atkerson's
unbridled talent has spun another tantalizing, visceral, and unflinching
tale. The nation's tumultuous Civil Rights Movement of the 60's coupled with
the fitful, unmanageable crispation of the kudzu vines, common in Atlanta,
Georgia, prove to be a captivating setting for the novel's heroine, Shelby
Reed.
The reader accompanies Shelby from an unwanted daughter in Chicago to her
shipment to relatives in Atlanta, Georgia. The enmity between Shelby and her
mother in Chicago only begs for a better life for her in Atlanta. Her growth
from childhood through motherhood is truthfully and poignantly laid bare in
all its richness. Thus, when she says, "I have spent my whole life looking
for love and craving acceptance," an apt reply is, "You certainly did."
By way of prose that is lyrical and precise, the author breathes life into
an array of characters who are colorful, loveable, and at times downright
despicable, but never uninteresting. You will love Mom Moses, who is the
matriarch in the novel. She is well geared with a panoply of weapons to
defend and protect those she loves. If she cannot assuage the situation with
her southern comfort food, she has a steady fist always at the ready as a
backup. Mr. Marshall, "Bubba," is a talented and respected lawyer whose
white skin at times does not adequately restrain his black inner soul. Mom
Moses reared him from a baby, and as a result, he considers her as his mom
with all the benefits that go with the title. Then, there's Andre, Mom
Moses' nephew. His dubious sexual identity is confusing to everyone but
himself. He knows he's a lady. His appearance at the US Recruiting Office as
a draftee makes for an unparalleled moment. His glib retorts and mannerisms
are great comical reliefs at just the right time.
Much, much more than a tale of woe, "Walking Among The Kudzu" is solidly
packed with anguish, pathos, unrequited love, humor, and the supernatural.
Shelby takes the reader along with her as she unfolds her eventful life.
What about the kudzu vine? Early in the novel, Shelby is told, "They (the
vines) have a mind of their own. They grow wild... just like us." Walking
Among The Kudzu" is no leisurely stroll, it's a multi-tiered romp!
—Review by S. Lawrence Wright, Philadelphia Community College, English
Department
Stones
Along The Path
Click to order via Amazon
Paperback: 422 pages
Publisher: Xlibris (April 24, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1436346266
ISBN-13: 978-1436346269
Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.9 x 6 inches
Jessica Hamilton relates in Stones Along the Path a romantic bi-continental, cross-cultural family saga that unfolds in Africa and migrates to America, glimpsing three generations of a culturally diverse black family. Jessica’s oldest son, Dexter tells the reader his side of the same story.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Jessica meets a tall handsome African businessman, Akinyele Akinshegun, whom she is attracted to immediately. Confronted by her love for this man, she instinctively knows that if she gives in to him, it will nullify her long awaited return home and the future she has carefully planned for herself.
Stones Along the Path Part II
Click to order via Amazon
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Xlibris (April 24, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1436346436
ISBN-13: 978-1436346436
Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.5 x 6 inches
In whispered prayers to God, Akinyele fulfills his life-long quest for an erotically satisfying love relationship when he convinces Jessica to marry him. Oblivious to the dangers around them, their love, which is laced with warm passionate encounters, takes them on an extended honeymoon into the most vivid and picturesque parts of the African continent.
Victoria Falls , the pyramids, the Okavango Delta are among many locations the enthralled lovers explore while living out the most sensuous and sexually satisfying experiences of their lives. When the couple discovers that they are expecting a child, they travel to Akinyele’s native country where Jessica is greeted warmly by his parents and discovers whom she married.
Before the birth of their son, she is faced with deception, lies, and betrayal. Heartbroken and devastated by secrets her husband kept from her, she returns to Philadelphia, where she is determined to raise her child in a morally correct environment without the toxic love she continues to crave.
What does the future hold for Jessica and her child? What problems does she encounter? Can she live without the love she left behind?
Related Links
