Through the worn pages of a timeworn leather journal, REACHING BACK unearths the powerful, untold legacy of Mignon Samuels and the generations of African-American women who came before her. From her great-grandmother's resilience to her mother's quiet strength, Mignon pieces together a lineage marked by pain, perseverance, and triumph.
As family secrets surface and long-buried truths come to light, Mignon must confront the illusions that have shaped her life-and decide whether the past will define her or empower her.
A stirring, multi-generational saga, REACHING BACK explores identity, race, and the enduring bonds of family. With raw honesty and lyrical insight, Nea Anna Simone invites readers on a gripping journey of discovery, healing, and the unbreakable spirit passed from mother to daughter.
Bold, fast-paced, and deeply human-this is a story for anyone who's ever dared to reclaim their story.
Long before her name became synonymous with great storytelling, Nea worked 60-70 hours a week building a marketing firm to support her three daughters as a single parent. Nea would squeeze in time before going to the office to work on her hobby--writing her first novel.
A voracious reader, Nea had often privately considered writing but never took the first step until the day she received a call from her friend Dana Nelson. Dana called to tell Nea, that when she had been in prayer, God had sent a message through her, for Nea. The message was simply "She should write". Realizing the message had to be from God, Nea was inspired to start writing the novel Reaching Back. That night she sat at her computer and wrote the first thirty five pages exploring what would have happened if .... Reaching Back was acquired by BET Books, who published it in 2002 where it became their first book reviewed as "literary" fiction. The book was reprinted over 14 times in the first printing. In 2013 the Unabridged version of Reaching Back was re-released under the Gravel Road Imprint.
Following on the heels of Reaching Back's success, Simone wrote ReBorn the sequel which skyrocketed to become a New York Times bestseller in 2007. ReBorn was also released under the Gravel Road Imprint. In 2008, Simone took a hiatus from writing to concentrate on raising her children and collaborate with her partners to form Equal Hue Productions and adapt Reaching Back into a made for television mini-series to be aired in four parts. She returned to writing in 2012 to pen the long awaited conclusion to the trilogy, "The Substance of Things", taken from Hebrews 11:1. "Now Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped For and the Evidence of Things not seen," Simone feels it is the obvious conclusion to the trilogy based on a writing career that was launched and sustained by faith.
Now Simone is busy at work on her fourth novel, "A Memory of Love".
