The Scheherazades

The Scheherazades are neither a rock group nor a coven of witches. They are four mature women who share life stories to increase their lives a thousand-and-one days. The theme of this novel is "buying time." The time is now; the setting is The Villa, part of an upscale over-fifty-five retirement community in a suburban area outside of Portland, Oregon. The Scheherazades have much in common, though their backgrounds and experiences are different. They talk of expected destinies—flirtation, marriage and motherhood; they share the sometimes insignificant and unattractive cultural perspectives which lead them—at times—to hopeless uncertainty or to wild experimentation among the passions. Their dutiful commitment to others helps them find unnamed talents and skills in spite of a sense of inadequacy and deprivation. They set goals for their newly found one-thousand-and-one days of life; some are reached, some change, but it is the telling that is important.