Sheila Williams, Dancing on the Edge of the Roof

Sheila Williams, Dancing on the Edge of the Roof - In Columbus, Ohio, forty-two-year-old African-American Juanita Lewis is disappointed with her two sons and daughter. Rashawn is a drug dealer; Randy is doing time; and Bertie does the clubs, ignoring her baby. To flee from her belief that she failed at parenting 101, Juanita escapes into romance novels where she fantasizes of a different life for her and her family, and when she is honest with herself, just her.

Unable to cope with the latest disenchantment and encouraged by her novels, Juanita quits her nurses aide job and takes a bus to escape from her dismal home life. The name sounds romantic and her bus companion mentioned it, so she gets off in Paper Moon, Montana. At the local diner, Juanita defeats owner Jess Gardiner in a cook-off by providing a simple menu rather than his upper crust bill of fare for the patrons. Soon everyone wants to eat at the diner. Juanita enjoys rustication, even conversing with her landlady's cats. Jess begins courting her and they fall in love.

DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE ROOF is a fantastic, contemporary romance with an insightful family drama that actually comes alive though the perceptions of the heroine. Though the metamorphosis of Juanita from nurturing care-taker to strong "I am woman" seems impossible, yet Sheila Williams makes it believable as if Juanita "snapped" in a positive way as she realizes that there is got to be more to life than this and decides to find it. The storyline is amusing with its serious message to respect yourself while the J duet fuss, fight, and fall in love within this fine second chance at life.

One World, Nov 2002, $12.95, 227 pp.

ISBN: 034545930X

Harriet Klausner