"girls in search of cover: a journey toward wholeness after sexual violation"

A Novel by Pamela Mshana, PhD

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
“Pamela Mariva Mshana has written a raw and painful story with a great understanding of human nature, and with a wise eloquence that leaves the reader with an understanding of the potential for healing no matter how great life’s wounds. Readers will be transformed by this gorgeous and important work.” —Toni Ann Johnson, NAACP Image Award nominee and winner of the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction

“girls in search of cover is a heart-wrenching story that will cause you to want to help victims of sexual abuse who have endured such pain as the protagonist, Carmia. This book is nonstop reading. Anyone who works with children should read it as they will certainly benefit and learn to be a blessing to girls who are in search of cover.” —Dr. Betty R. Price, Crenshaw Christian Center

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SYNOPSIS:
girls in search of cover is part one in a series of novels set against the backdrop of three generations of women scarred by rape. It dramatizes a girl’s journey through the belly of the beast and her triumph above the brutal legacy of her matriarchs. Carmia is a troubled young African-American girl whose drug-addicted mother relocates Carmia and her brother to Bovina, Mississippi—a deeply religious backwater where they all move in with Carmia’s grandmother, Ma Evans. Carmia grows up an outsider in Bovina. Mother Johns, a conniving church leader with a dark hatred for Ma Evans, convinces the community that Ma Evans’ entire bloodline, including Carmia, is cursed. After a series of tragic deaths, Carmia begins to think so too. As a teenager faced with a life of violence, church hurt and sexual trauma, will her hope of a better life be enough for her to overcome? Will the voices of her ancestors (spiritual cloud of witnesses), give her strength enough to escape the abuse her matriarchs suffered?

PAMELA MSHANA, PHD is an accomplished playwright, author and educator. Her play Ebony, which was produced at Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway theater in New York City, also received a dramatic reading at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Mshana has been an educator for over 20 years, serving in multiple roles from teaching to administration. As an educator in residence at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, she wrote and directed the play Thando of South Africa. girls in search of cover marks Dr. Mshana’s debut novel.