Valerie Wilson Wesley's fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children have appeared in many publications, including Essence, Family Circle, TV Guide, Ms, Creative Classroom, and The New York Times, and Weltwoche, a Swiss weekly newspaper. She is also a 1993 recipient of the Griot Award from the New York Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and has received numerous awards from national reading groups. In 1996, she was voted Author of the Year by the Go On Girl! Book Club. Ms.Wesley is also a former executive editor of Essence magazine.
Ms. Wesley is a former board member of Sisters
of Crime, a professional organization committed to fighting discrimination
against women writing mysteries. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of
the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey and the YWCA of North Essex.
She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Newark Arts Council in Newark,
New Jersey. Ms. Wesley is a graduate of Howard University and has masters
degrees from both the Banks Street College of Education and the Columbia
Graduate School of Journalism. She is married to noted screenwriter and
playwright Richard Wesley and is the mother of two grown daughters.
Read about Wesley's Tamara Hayle Mystery series
When
the Night Whispers
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by Savanna Welles (pseudonym)
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (February 5, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312675712
ISBN-13: 978-0312675714
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
A riveting, modern-day gothic tale about a woman who succumbs and then must
save herself from a dark lover
That night was the first time I tasted champagne—French he told me, and as I
loved all things French I was enchanted. I barely remember what we said—only
that I did most of the talking: about leaving the South, my dreams of
becoming a writer, my thoughts of Harlem . . . and of you. He said very
little, only this: "The moment I saw you I knew you would be mine forever.
And even death, even that, could not part us."
Jocelyn's life feels empty, devoid of passion and purpose. After she finds a
journal written by her “doomed” great-grandmother, Caprice, she is
spellbound by her story: the escape from a loveless marriage, her seduction
by a nameless lover who is both "demon and savior." Then, as if stepping out
of a dream, Jocelyn meets Asa, her mysterious next door neighbor.
Asa is charming, handsome, and daring and, as if by magic, she is drawn into
his hedonistic lifestyle. Yet there is something unsettling about Asa. Luna
is suspicious of this man, and although Jocelyn is dismissive of Luna and
amused by her friend's warnings, she can't completely ignore them. She
begins to wonder if things with Asa aren't quite what they seem.
Always True to You in My Fashion
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Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Avon (November 27, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061015520
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
Three smart, independent single women are being driven to distraction by the
same maddening man during the same seven months . . .
Randall Hollis is rich, handsome, and charming--a true-to-life dream-lover.
Artist Medora Jackson has loved Randall since college and is now desperately
trying to cut him loose . . . which may be far more difficult than she
thinks.
Ana Reese-Mitchell is a wealthy widow and art collector haunted by the death
of her best friend and the specter of her cruel late husband. She hopes that
Randall will be her second chance at love.
And ambitious graduate student Taylor Benedict is sure he will be the first
rung on her ladder to success.
A man for all seasons, Randall represents a different romantic illusion to
all three. And each will ultimately discover more about him--and
herself--than she ever bargained for.
Playing
My Mother's Blues
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ISBN: 0060188820
Format: Hardcover, 240pp
Pub. Date: March 15, 2005
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
In her triumphant new novel, bestselling author Valerie Wilson Wesley, one of the most respected and acclaimed voices in contemporary African American fiction, poignantly examines the stubborn bonds of family, passion, and a past that insists on repeating itself.
Dani Carter was seven years old -- her sister, Rose, seventeen -- when their beautiful, impetuous mother, Maria, walked out of their lives, abandoning her husband and family for a love affair that would end tragically mere months later. Over the decades that followed, Dani was able to overcome the persistent pain and feelings of betrayal, eventually wedding a successful man and giving birth to a wonderful son. But love has long been missing from her marriage, propelling her into the arms of another and inspiring troubling thoughts of escape. If it were not for the distress caused by the recent death of her father, she might well have already been gone. The sins of the mother, Dani fears, have been visited upon the daughter.
Dani's sister, Rose, never spoke or speaks of their lost parent. And their iron-willed, driven father -- who channeled his shame and anger into phenomenal business success -- always made it brutally clear that he considered his ex-wife to be evil incarnate. But Dani remembers a sweet, funny, vivacious young woman who did everything with exuberant love and tenderness. And now that she finds herself in a similar heartbreaking situation, Dani can't help but wonder who Maria really was.
It's a puzzle that may soon be completed, after a lifetime of searching for missing pieces. Maria, calling herself Mariah, is about to reenter her daughters' worlds -- at a time of emotional confusion and physical chaos -- bearing secrets and bitter truths ... and, perhaps, long-awaited answers to what could possibly drive a mother to sacrifice what was dearest to her heart.
Always True to You in My Fashion: A Novel
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ISBN: 0060188839
Format: Hardcover, 320pp
Pub. Date: November 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
A trio of great single women is being driven to distraction; they have one thing in common -- Randall Hollis, a successful art dealer at the top of his game. Randall is rich, handsome, and charming -- the true-to-life dream lover of these smart, independent women who all find themselves passionately involved with him during the same seven-month period.
There's Medora Jackson, an artist who has loved Randall since college and is now desperately trying to cut him loose. But turning Randall Hollis out of her life will end up being far more difficult than she thinks. There's Ana Reese-Mitchell, a wealthy widow and art collector who is haunted by the death of her best friend and the specter of her cruel late husband. She hopes Randall Hollis will be her second chance at love. And there's ambitious Taylor Benedict, a graduate student in art history who is coming to terms with her parents' divorce and problems from her childhood that she can't chase away. She's sure that Randall Hollis will be the first rung on her ladder to success.
Randall Hollis is a man for all seasons, representing a different fantasy for each of the women who love him. As the novel unfolds, each woman will discover more about herself than she bargained for. And each, along with the errant Randall himself, will finally know the true meaning of love and the peace that comes with forgiveness.
Ain't
Nobody's Business If I Do : A Novel
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ISBN:
0060515929
Format: Paperback, 336pp
Pub. Date: August 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
When it comes to living life to the fullest, it ain't nobody's business how one goes about it.
At the age of forty, artist-turned-librarian Eva Hutchinson isn't looking for a change. But on a hot Friday the 13th in June, Hutch, her husband of ten years, picks up his suitcase and walks into the night searching for the "joy" that he feels is missing from their marriage. Suddenly, playing by the old rules doesn't make much sense to a not-quite-young sister whose stable world has turned upside down.
Now Eva is alone with an empty heart in a big, empty house. Hutch fears he is falling in love with the neglected wife of his wealthy, philandering best friend. Charley, Eva's law school-bound daughter, wants to chuck it all and become a stand-up comedian ' while Steven, Hutch's son, harbors a secret that will rock his father's world. And into the mix strolls Isaiah Lonesome, a handsome hunk of a twenty-eight-year-old jazz musician who will teach Eva to play some lusty new riffs on love's oldest song.
Where Do I Go from Here?
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ISBN: 0590456075
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 144pp
Pub. Date: December 1995 Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Edition Description: REPRINT
Age Range: 12 and up
Winner of the 1993 American Library Association Best Book for Reluctant Readers citation
Nia and Marcus, two of the very few African American students at a snooty prep school, struggle to find out what they want to do with their lives.
"This is a sensitive and powerful novel of a young African-American girl's
struggle to find her place at a top-notch, almost exclusively white, private
school"
Related links
Valerie's Tamara Hayle Mysteries
Wilson is included in Best Black Women's Erotica
More Valerie Wilson Wesley on AALBC.com
Richard Wesley (Valerie's Husband) was born July 11, 1945 and is a playwright, and screenwriter for television and cinema.
Wesley
is an Associate Professor in Playwriting and Screenwriting, and the Chair of
the Department of Dramatic Writing. He was educated at Howard University in
Washington, DC, graduating with a BFA in 1967. His plays include, The Black
Terror, a Drama Desk winner, produced at the New York Shakespeare Festival's
Public Theatre, in 1971; The Mighty Gents, an Audelco Award winner,
premiered on Broadway in 1978. The 1970s also saw Prof. Wesley embark on a
motion picture career, penning screenplays for the motion pictures, Uptown
Saturday Night (1974), Let's Do It Again (Warner Bros., 1975), Native Son
(1984) and Fast Forward (Columbia Pictures, 1985). Prof. Wesley's teleplays
include, Murder Without Motive (1991), Mandela And De Klerk (1997), and
Bojangles (2000). He has also written episodes for the television series,
Fallen Angels and 100 Centre Street. Prof. Wesley served as an Adjunct at
the following institutions: Manhattanville College, Wesleyan University,
Borough of Manhattan Community College and Rutgers University.
In the video below the husband wife team of Richard Wesley and Valerie Wilson Wesley are honored during the Harlem Book Fair Newark on April 28th 2012.
