The Future Has a Past - Hardcover

Cooper, J. California

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038549680X ISBN 13: 9780385496803

Publisher: Doubleday, 2000

Synopsis

From the highly acclaimed author of the classic A Piece of Mine comes a magnificent collection of stories about ordinary women who discover that love sometimes comes when you least expect it. Passionately re-creating the lives of "just everyday people trying to live every day," J. California Cooper limns the mysterious way in which people discover what is important. Maisha, the narrator of "A Shooting Star," chronicles the much-gossiped-about affairs of her friend Lorene and laments her inability to differentiate between sex and love. In "The Eagle Flies," Vinnie, a single mother, devotes herself to her selfish children, letting opportunities for her own happiness slip by until it is almost too late. In "A Filet of Soul," Louella, raised to believe she is ugly and undesirable, falls for a fast-talking con man and loses her small inheritance and her dignity; but his betrayal turns out to mark the beginning of a love affair-and a life-Louella had never imagined she would find. In the final story of this collection, "The Lost and the Found," Lorene waits and waits for the philanderer she loves to marry her, almost letting the love of a good man pass her by.
A master storyteller in the full blossom of her talents, Cooper will encourage those with even the most closed hearts to wake up and live.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Praise for J. California Cooper:

"With a soul-stirring cry, Cooper urges readers to seize and savor every drop of life."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"Gutsy and familiar...[Cooper's] powers come from sticking to her instinct, which is to tell a story, plain and simple."
-Washington Post

"Her style is deceptively simple and direct and the vale of tears in which her characters reside is never so deep that a rich chuckle at a foolish
person's foolishness cannot be heard."
-Alice Walker

"Cooper writes about small-town life with a verve that nearly bursts off the page."
-Ms.

"Ms. Cooper is as down-home as Zora Neale Hurston."
-Essence

About the Author:

J. California Cooper is the author of five collections of short stories, including Homemade Love, winner of the 1989 American Book Award, and the novels The Wake of the Wind, Family, and In Search of Satisfaction. She lives in northern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 038549680X
• ISBN 13: 9780385496803
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 265