Richard Crystal

Remarkably moving and uplifting, Journey of the Heart is not only a primer on how people can mentally and emotionally prepare themselves for a life-saving, risky medical procedure, but a blueprint for all generations on navigating uncertainty, triumphing against odds, chasing and finding love and living life to its fullest with the backdrop of all that is Hollywood. At age 62, tv producer, writer and brother of show business icon Billy Crystal experiences chest pain while playing golf and learns he needs an aortal valve replacement. Without the highly innovative and challenging surgery, he would die. Facing his own mortality, Richard successfully undergoes the surgery. During his days and nights of recovery in the hospital, he revisits his past and a flood of memories rush in, allowing him to rediscover the dramatic events that shaped his life. He uses his life-affirming memories to accelerate the healing process.

A New York jazz musician discovers he has a half-brother—a king in Kenya—and embarks on a journey to Africa that turns into a spiritual odyssey. When a copper deposit is discovered on the land of the Makenda tribe in eastern Kenya, a young king, Ule Samanga, is told to relocate his people to a refugee camp in Nairobi or risk imprisonment. When all appears lost, the young king discovers the existence of Curtis Jackson, a mysterious half brother presently living in New York. Believing this unexpected news to be an omen from the spirit of his ancestors, he eagerly seeks Curtis’s help to save their sacred tribal homeland. A struggling mortgage broker and former jazz prodigy, Curtis initially has no interest in developing a relationship with his newly found African family. But when he’s presented with an intriguing business offer, he embarks on a journey to Africa that becomes a spiritual odyssey, changing him in ways he never imagined. In this assured debut, Richard Crystal weaves a complex story of contemporary moral imperatives conceived during Obama’s victorious election as America’s first black president. Themes of corporate malfeasance and exploitation will resonate with readers of The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamond. But beyond the various political machinations, readers will find a heartwarming story infused with the strains of Coltrane, the history of jazz, and the enduring power of family.