Jeff Farley

Screenwriter and new voice to fiction Jeff Farley delivers a nostalgic Brooklyn coming-of-age tale about finding love, holding on to dreams, and learning to forgive. It’s 1992, Brooklyn, New York. All of the girls had bamboo earrings—at least two pair. Charisse Hawkins, adored and admired by her best friends and one of the smartest and most sought-after girls in high school, has dreams of becoming a doctor. Her mother, who works tirelessly to support her, is proud she’s on the right path. Then she meets him, Jamal Butler, a part-time college student who lives at home and works an obscure job. Too old, not her type, and certainly not part of her plan, Jamal wants Charisse for nothing more than to please his ego and he is willing to use any tactic to gain the affection of a naive Charisse. He offers what she’s never known before—the love of a man. Or so it seems. Life takes a sharp turn when Charisse spends her graduation day giving birth to their premature daughter. Her priorities change and so does Jamal. Suddenly Charisse’s world is turned upside down and truths are exposed about her family and friends. She begins a journey of tough life lessons as she struggles to come to grips with her role as mother and ultimately having to accept one of the simple rules of life: You Get What You Play For.

'There is some deep satisfaction in being born in a place like Chard', said Margaret Bondfield the UK's first female cabinet minister, in her book A Life's Work. 'The old cloth trade of Chard - the lacemaking industry - the dyeing houses - the iron foundries - the old radicalism and nonconformity of Chard - these must somehow have got into the texture of my life and shaped my thoughts, long before I had a thought or will of my own.' Much of what she wrote is still true today. The area around Chard has catered to various trades, many of which are still operating today, although on a smaller scale than in those days when this was the most industrialised small town in England. Some of the factories have been put to other uses, many have vanished, and some new ones have appeared. This book records examples of great change, alongside some changes that are not so great - Chard may not be what once was, but for many it will always be home.