From Hardship to Hope

• By Judith Gwinn Adrian and Jaylin Stueber
• Novel
• Oct. 2023
  

Two women end up living together during the pandemic. One is an olding White woman, a retired academic who understands the world through books. One is a pregnant, homeless, Black teen, who understands the world through having lived on the streets.

Initially, both fight the forced connection.

Trust, and then love, grows as they address pregnancy complications, the loss of their partners, a BLM protest, and the relentless isolation of the covid days. They share life-experiences, debate race-laced issues like police violence, access to jobs/housing/healthcare, and, of course, incarceration. As tensions ease, the women also explore differences in traditions, hair care, foods, language, and parenting, with growing shared humor.

The olding woman is thrown back to the loss of her only child – through adoption – when she too was 17. Trauma she had tucked away in her mind for many years.

The younger woman is learning how to trust people outside of her own race by opening up and allowing room for support, and vulnerability.

The book is autobiographical for both authors, fictionally woven together through shared stories, with a surprise ending.