North to Paradise: one man's journey to a better life

North to Paradise: A Memoir by Ousman Umar is one man’s journey from a rural village in Ghana to the streets of Barcelona. Ousman Umar is the son of the village shaman. When his mother dies giving him birth, a tribal tradition would have him abandoned as he was considered to be born under a curse. However, his father intervenes. He spent his childhood working the fields, setting traps in the jungle and living off the land. When he sees the strange but wondrous flying machines fly across the sky, he begins to dream of a different life. At twelve years old, he leaves his home and begins a journey to Europe. A journey that would take five years! Traveling through three different cultures, three different realities, from the Ghanaian jungle to the Arab world to Spain, Ousman encountered violence, exploitation and racism. He also found friendship, generosity and hope. It is a story of extraordinary resilience, the beauty of kindness and the power of giving back. 

North to Paradise is the inspiring, emotional and somber true story of Ousman Umar’s journey toward a better life. Once in Barcelona and achieving all he wanted, he couldn’t help but remember those he left behind. He then was determined to give back to his home village and help better their lives in any way he could. His descriptions of his experiences on his journey were heartstopping and heartbreaking. It’s hard to admire such tenacity and determination when most would have given up. The prologue states that a group of 46 started for Paradise, the Promised Land and near the end, only 6 survived! Mr. Umar states that given his experiences it would be easy to think of people as bad but with the goodness he has received, he likes to believe that most people are good, “It’s just that the good people make less noise.” How very true! I highly recommend North to Paradise. 

North to Paradise is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

The Sicilian Veil of Shame: the heartbreaking sequel to Rented Silence

The Sicilian Veil of Shame is the second book in the African Freedom Series by Lucia Mann. It is a continuation of the story readers were introduced in Rented Silence. In this book, Brianna follows her maternal grandmother’s story from Sicilia to a Nazi concentration camp to Africa back to Sicilia. The story tells the story of Maria Teresa Genovese, the only daughter of mafia boss of the powerful Genovese family. Her life was changed forever on the night of her 10^th birthday when she was kidnapped from her bedroom. As the ransom plans don’t go as plan, Maria is soon sold to a brothel where she is soon sent to Auschwitz. She experiences the horrors of the infamous camp and set free when the camp is liberated on January 27, 1945. Brianna hears her grandmother’s story while trying to piece together the strange events which are occurring in the house. Can she find the secret that Maria is finding? Will she be able to find peace after learning her family’s torrid history?

The Sicilian Veil of Shame is a horrific story of the atrocities that human beings imposed of those they think are less than them. I didn’t find the book as emotional or horrifying as Rented Silence; however, it was still heartbreaking to read about a story of Maria’s trials. The things people have done and will do to others is beyond comprehension. The ending is shocking and leads to a possible third book to explore more of atrocities which happened around the world and still happen today. I highly recommend The Sicilian Veil of Shame.

The Sicilian Veil of Shame

Is available on Amazon

In paperback for $17.95

Miss Fortune: a memoir of one's journey to better her life

Miss Fortune by Albina Hume is a memoir of one woman’s journey from poverty in the Ukraine to animal activism in Africa. It is a life which many of us can hardly imagine but a classic story of picking yourself up from the dust and creating a great life in any way possible.

The story opens with a prologue, Albina is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her wedding invitations which features a butterfly as a representation of the beginning of new life. She lives on a ranch in Africa with her fiance, John, who works to save the white rhinos from extinction. The short, then, flashes back to childhood and life in the Ukraine. She struggled with the pronunciation of the letter “R” and was horribly teased because of it. She would spend her life trying to avoid all words with Rs, which would be proved hard in a language with strong R pronunciations like Russian. She would be educated in boarding schools and when she has her diploma in hand, she would try to find a job. Only the doors to steady work would be closed to her as employers discovered she was a villager. She soon gets into deep debt, trying to make a living and turns to exotic dancing in order to pay those off. She would soon find herself in Greece, where she would fall in and out of love as she is used and betrayed by men who lied. She would eventually turn to a marriage agency which leads her to John and his ranch in Africa.

I received a PDF copy of this book which was hard to read at first, mainly because I have never read a book in this format before. But once I figured it out, the book was a fast read because it kept me intrigued. Her story seems only like it was written for a movie. Her story was all the more heart wrenching because she lived it. As I read her descriptions of her journey, her disappointments, her struggles, I found myself horrified that this was her journey but I rejoiced with her as she found love and a new purpose in her life. I recommend Miss Fortune as a life story which will inspire and encourage other to take their life circumstances and change them for the better.