Waiting in Vain - Hardcover

Channer, Colin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345411781 ISBN 13: 9780345411785

Publisher: One World/Ballantine, 1998

Synopsis

"I'm a Jamaican. Yardie to de bloodclaat core. I love stout more than wine. I love cricket more than baseball. . . . I love Bob Marley more than Beethoven or Basie. . . . And I think that the fat on a woman batty and hips is sexy thing that they shouldn't try to lose at the gym. . . ."

As the clock nears midnight, a travel-weary man steps out of the New York subway where Chinatown collides with Soho and TriBeCa. He strides up West Broadway in his tough, scuffed boots past cafés and bars. Then he sees her, and a spark is lit. She walks like a dancer, and trailing behind her in the coltish breeze is a light silk scarf whose flutter he deems
romantic. . . .

Meet Fire--Jamaican born, charming, poetic, and talented--a man who's vowed to never play "love-is-blind" games again. Then he meets Sylvia, a beautiful magazine editor who keeps her passions under lock and key. Together they must choose between the love in their lives and the love of their lives.

Waiting in Vain is a sexy, hypnotic, and beautifully written novel of two souls who meet by chance--then fall hard and fast in a precarious world of hopeful dreamers. With an amazing gift for capturing the subtle Jamaican cadences of his characters' voices, in prose that drips of passion both carnal and pure, Colin Channer immerses us in the fast-paced, often cutthroat art world where sculptors, writers, poets, musicians, gallery owners, and benefactors all reach for success at the expense of themselves and the truth.

From the galleries of Soho to the brownstones of Brooklyn, from the nightclubs of London to the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, Channer takes us on a wild, soul-searching ride as Fire and Sylvia try to connect, disconnect, and reconnect amid conflicting desires and wounds from the past. But through intricate love triangles, skewed priorities, and crushing personal tragedies, Fire, Sylvia, and their friends must learn that some things in life are worth fighting for. If not, you're simply waiting in vain.

About this title

From the Publisher

What a great early reception we've been getting to this book! It's struck a chord with
readers and it's been wonderful to watch the early excitement. I have a feeling that this
title is going to have a major effect on readers and that it will be talked about for quite
a while. E. Lynne Harris says of Colin Channer: "He has the ear of a poet and the
heart of a lover." Dianne McKinneyh-Whetstone calls the book a "lavish and lush read
filled with spice, sass and passion." And Kwame Dawes offers: "We see an enviable and
unusual achievement" with Colin's book. This book is an alternate selection of the
Quality Paperback Book Club.

African American booksellers across the country tell me this book is flying off the shelves.
Nkiru in Brooklyn says it's the most requested book of the last few weeks (7/27/98). Eso-
Won in LA says that he sold out of his initial orderof 45 already and is going to order 50 more
asap. African Spectrum in Atlanta moved over 250 books during the National Black Arts
Festival. Afrocentric in Chicago says the women customers come in asking for it as
well as for the sampler we offered that gives the prologue and first chapter --it may
become a collector's item. It's summertime and folks want an entertaining read and
Colin delivers.

From the Back Cover

"A stunning debut! Colin Channer has the ear of a poet and the heart of a lover. He takes us into a sensuously intimate world where men and women like us take risks, make mistakes, get hurt, and--sometimes--find themselves transformed by the power of love. If you've ever dared to follow your passion, then you must read Waiting in Vain."
--E. Lynn Harris
Author of the New York Times bestseller If This World Were Mine

"A wonderful debut! Waiting in Vain is a lavish and lush read filled with spice, sass, and passion."
--Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Author of the national bestsellers Tumbling and Tempest Rising

About this edition

• Publisher: One World/Ballantine
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0345411781
• ISBN 13: 9780345411785
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 346