Synopses & Reviews
With this sensual, heartrending second novel, bestselling author Jenoyne Adams further establishes herself as a stunning talent. Probing and engaging,
Selah's Bed explores how a woman can use sex to gain acceptance, escape her past, and even endanger her soul.
Selah Wells looks for salvation through sex and in her photography of nude black men. She feels most alive under the touch of new hands. But she's married to a minister, and, as the adage goes, secrets done in the dark will come to the light. Interweaving scenes from Selah's adult life, including the loss of her only child, and moments from her childhood -- spent in a lively housing project -- Adams deftly depicts Selah's journey. As her grandmother's health deteriorates and her husband immerses himself in the work of God, Selah's latest lover, Peter, tries to get her to confront her fear and anger. Unable to relinquish regrets that have fueled her behavior all these years, Selah resists. But when she is pushed to the emotional brink by an unexpected turn of events, she must finally face her past and begin to make peace with God, her husband, her lost child, and herself.
Review
Janet Fitch bestselling author of White Oleander Jenoyne Adams writes with raw beauty about the life of the body and life in terms of the body....You read this prose with a visceral pleasure; it bites into your flesh, burns your fingers, your lips. A ravishing, erotic, furious tale.
Review
Jervey Tervalon author of Lita In a time when the dully erotic passes as literature, Selah's Bed is a novel of elliptical sensuality. Powerful and compelling.
Review
Black Issues Book Review A moving story of a woman trying to find herself and begin the process of reconciliation and forgiveness. ...Powerful, vivid characters.
About the Author
Jenoyne Adams is the author of the bestselling novel Resurrecting Mingus. She is a poet, journalist, PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow, and member of the World Stage Anansi Writer's Workshop in Leimert Park. She has been featured in programs at the National Black Arts Festival, the Schomburg Museum, the Essence Music Festival, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She was born in San Bernardino, California, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, writer Michael Datcher.