Book Reviews - Authors & Artists Magazine

Saffron Dreams is a tale of love, tragedy, and redemption
from the award-winningauthor of Beyond the Cayenne Wall...

From the darkest hour of American history emerges a
mesmerizing tale of tender love, a life interrupted,
and faith recovered. Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artist and
writer, discovers in a single moment that no matter how
carefully you map your life, it is life itself that chooses
your destiny.

After her husband's death in the collapse of the World Trade
Center, the discovery of his manuscript marks Arissa's reconnection
to life. Her unborn son and the unfinished novel fuse in her mind
into one life-defining project that becomes, at once, the struggle
for her emotional survival and the redemption of her race.
Saffron Dreams is a novel about our ever evolving identities
and the events and places that shape them. It reminds us that
in the midst of tragedy, our dreams can become a lasting legacy.

"Eloquently written, a must-read for any one interested in
exploring the lived experiences of Muslim women in the United States."
--Ali Asani, PhD, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures, Harvard University

"Saffron Dreams is an unflinching look at the societal
pressures of widowhood, the role that art can play in the
healing process, and the impact of media bias and stereotyping
on the Muslim American community in the aftermath of the 2001
terrorist attacks."
--Sandhya Nankani, Literary Safari

"Following Arissa's story makes the reader realize how little
most of us know and understand the world of Muslims, and how
incredibly wrong so many of our perceptions are."
--Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson, Reader Views

"Shaila Abdullah's Saffron Dreams is a fascinating look at
how events can quickly change a life forever. The thread of
Muslim beliefs in a modern world, and especially how women
balance ancient and modern traditions, is a fresh and different
viewpoint."
--Sandie Kirkland, Rebecca's Reads

About the Author
Shaila Abdullah is a Pakistani-American author and designer
based in Austin, Texas. Her first book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall,
is an award-winning collection of stories about Pakistani women
struggling to find their individualities despite the barriers
imposed by society. For more information, please visit
www.ShailaAbdullah.com.

Saffron Dreams is Book #5 of the Reflections of America Series
from Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

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Reviews

Arissa Illahi is a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, Pakistani,
American, and Muslim. When the United States, and consequentially
the world, was rocked by the horrific terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, Arissa's life is turned upside down. Her husband,
Faizan, was working at a restaurant in one of the towers and lost his
life. Reeling with the loss of her love, Arissa is left struggling
and trying to make sense of it all. She is also pregnant with a baby
who is destined to have severe special needs and alone. She also
becomes a victim of prejudice when attacked because she is wearing
her veil. She sheds her veil and goes on a journey of heartbreak
and empowerment all the while healing from being abandoned by her
mother and building a beautiful relationship with Faizan's parents.

Poetic and moving, the story of Arissa Illahi's heartbreak and
strength comes alive in Shaila Abdullah's "Saffron Dreams". This
novel is written in a memoir style, taking you deep in to Arissa's
heartbreak and inner struggles. Attempting to bring forth what it
must be like to be a victim in so many aspects due to the terrorist
attacks. Imagine what it must be like to be in the shoes of a
follower of Allah and have the world blame you for what you yourself
is a victim of also. Shaila Abdullah's book is multifaceted, we
are given a treat of reading beautiful words, a moving story and we
are also educated at the same time. Although this is a work of
fiction, Arissa's heartbreak is real. Her experiences are real.
Her struggle with removing her veil and blending in with an America
that is reeling and scared. Her surviving when Faizan did not,
her decisions to continue with his novel, and the choices and
struggles with raising their special needs son. I was moved
to tears several times during this book, my heart ached for
Arissa and I also found myself cheering her on as she and her
son found their footing and moved through their lives, never
forgetting who they are: Wife, Mother, Daughter, Son, Pakistani,
American and Muslim.

Shaila Abdullah's "Saffron Dreams" is a must read.
Reviewed on 08/29/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Jaime Huff
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Writer, Shaila Abdullah, takes you into the life of Arissa
Illahi, a Muslim, born into the upper class struggling to find
who she is. Abandoned by a mother, who could not find a way to
love, hesitant to fall in love herself, until one-day fate
intervened. Meeting an aspiring author, over a stack of books,
who turned out to the man of her dreams. Marrying Faizan, moving
to New York, and starting a family, life was starting to come
together for Arissa. Unfortunately, a happy ending was not theirs
to have, and one fateful day changed their lives forever. On
September 11, 2001, Faizan died in the World Trade Centers. Now,
a widow, pregnant with a disabled child, and viewed as an outsider
in the land that she now calls home. She decides to take off her
veil but keep her culture. Struggling with the challenges of moving
to a new city, starting a new job, and raising a child with multiple disabilities.

She has also decided to finish Faizan’s novel,
breathing life into the characters he created and bring his novel
to a close. Slowly, she starts letting go of the anger she held
for her mother, and bit by bit letting go of the man he loves.
Willing herself to carry on for the amazing gift that Faizan left,
their son Raian. Proving that she is intrepid, and will continue on.

Vividly written, with the phrasing being as bold as the
colors Arissa painted with. I could almost smell the jasmine
floating through the air, as I lost myself in a different world.
With characters as spicy and flavorful as curry, you could not
help but to fall in love with each and everyone of them, It was
as if you were with Arissa on the emotional rollercoaster that
became her life, and felt the strength she finally find. I was
elated at every milestone that Raian accomplished and found
myself hoping for another, Abdullah has offered readers an
inside look into the Muslim culture, and blended it perfectly
with the American.

“Saffron Dreams” is an ingenious work of art that captures
the raw emotions of love, loss, the path of letting go and the
one that leads to self discovery. Abdullah wrote that,
"presentation, is the key to leaving a lasting impression”.
With this book she has accomplished that goal with the
beautifully written way in which she tugs at your heartstrings.
This will definately be a book I will remember. Truly a book
that should be on every must read list.

Stedman Graham reflects on family, leadership and, of course, Oprah

Stedmangraham.com

His accomplishments as a consultant, businessman, author and speaker are not the first things that come to mind when one thinks of Stedman Graham. He is Oprah Winfrey’s significant other, and he has no problem with that role.

He wrote You Can Make it Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success, and his latest book, Diversity: Leaders Not Labels, deals with what it takes to be successful.

He is scheduled to be the featured speaker at the ARC National Convention in Pittsburgh on Thursday. ARC supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Graham was chosen, in part, because he grew up with siblings who had disabilities.

A. It certainly made me stronger. I was able to build a strong foundation based on patience and being able to understand more of who I was as a person and what made me tick. That was probably the biggest impact.

Q. You have talked about leveraging your own worth. How did you learn to do it?

A. Well, it took a long time to do that because most of us focus on the external world to define who we are. In my early 30s I began to realize it’s not about the external world and how they define you. It’s how you define yourself. You need the skills to do that. You also need the ability to set goals, and you need the education on top of that.

Q. Was there a particular moment in your life when you decided it wasn’t about the external?

A. When I realized that the world puts you in a box, you know? I had always been frustrated because I had a race-based consciousness. I thought it was about the color of my skin. I realized it was about my lack of understanding of how to process and think and to take education and information and make it relevant to my purpose. The missing piece in my life is that I didn’t have a purpose. I just went along and did the same thing every day. And then everything you learn, you forget because it has no meaning for you. You are not able to make it relevant to who you are as a human being because you don’t know who you are. So you have no identity.

Q. Once you figured it out, how did you keep from being tied up in someone else’s worth?

A. Because I’m focused on my own worth. So when you focus on your own talents, your own skills, your own purpose, you understand who you are and you understand what you’re passionate about. Then you aren’t worried about anybody else’s passion. You worry about your own passion.

Q. But you know you are in a unique situation with Oprah. There are people who define themselves through their spouse, their children’s accomplishments. How do you avoid that?

A. Lose your ego. Move more into humility and figure out that your worth is based on what you do every single day. It’s based on your habits. It’s based on your accomplishments. It’s based on your goals. You have to realize everybody is equal because everybody has 24 hours. The question becomes, what will you do with your 24 hours? Just because you are in the media, just because you are on TV, just because you are famous, just because you are in a particular field that may be more high-profile doesn’t mean you are more significant than anybody else. It is just how you define yourself and how you define your work.

Q. Does it bother you knowing that people are endlessly fascinated with your relationship with Oprah?

A. You know, it is what it is and that’s fine. I’m perfectly happy to be with a woman who reaches 20 million people a day in 15 countries and who helps women all over the world and who is, you know, a genius. And who has a strong sense of character. Who is a strong communicator. Who is a wonderful, warm person and also who is a great cook. And who is dynamic and has her own mind. So I’m perfectly happy being with someone like that.

Q. Did dating Oprah change the trajectory of your life for the better, or did you make the most of the situation?

A. It just gives you more exposure to the world, so hopefully you are doing something productive and you are helping people. Through the nine-step process I help people to define themselves and to understand how to build an identity for themselves. Of the 6.6 billion people in the world, probably 5.9 billion of them don’t have an identity. So I try to help people all over the world find out who they are based on my experiences and based on what I’ve been looking for. To me it’s a pretty good way to free yourself from the external world and start investing in yourself as a human being so you can reach your potential.

A. Human spirit — the highest possible level. I’m a spirit that connects to people based on how I feel and how I think. So that’s first off who I am, and then secondly a human being and then half African-American, half Native American and so you know you can categorize it all different ways. Businessman, author, speaker, whatever.

A. If you can connect with your spirit, it gets you beyond race. You can assimilate anywhere in the world, become a citizen of the world based on connecting through your spirit as opposed to labels and limiting yourself based on that box you are stuck in.

Author Interviews—Goodreads Exclusives

Lev Grossman

TIME magazine book critic Lev Grossman's latest book, The Magicians, is the story of a callow, young magician—not to be confused with Harry Potter. Although the book has been billed as a pastiche of classics from the fantasy genre, including a twisted homage to The Chronicles of Narnia, Grossman injects unexpected realism into the world of magic—think Holden Caulfield at Hogwarts. It's a far cry from the style of his previous endeavors, Warp and Codex, but all three novels share a common theme of 20-something confusion. The Harvard grad talked with Goodreads about the malaise of young overachievers and why women in glasses will always be sexy.

Goodreads: Fantasy literature is full of young characters who discover magical worlds. Why is this classic equation continually compelling to readers?

Lev Grossman: I think everybody feels a bit out of place in life—like they've been slightly miscast or incorrectly routed. We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize that it isn't, we start looking around for the real world.

I read a lot of fantasy when I was young, but I especially loved books where kids found a way to break through into a new world, where magic was real. Like Narnia, or The Wizard of Oz, or (a particular favorite) The Phantom Tollbooth. Of course, in all these books the big lesson is that at the end of the book you have to go home again, and not complain about it. As you'll see if you read The Magicians, I have a problem with that.

Read the full interview »

Rebecca Wells

She may come from small-town Louisiana, but Rebecca Wells has a vagabond spirit. She has studied with Tibetan monks in Colorado, played jazz piano in Paris, and toured the United States performing in her one-woman show. In 1996, Wells struck publishing gold with her second novel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for more than a year and spawned Ya-Ya clubs worldwide. Her new book, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, returns to her Louisiana roots with plenty of female sisterhood, but this time without the Ya-Yas. Wells shares how she has continued to write despite her debilitating struggle with advanced Lyme disease, and why nothing is more delicious than slow-cooked gumbo.

Goodreads: In your new book, the heroine, Calla Lily, experiences a significant first love. Why is first love so powerful?

Rebecca Wells: Oh, yes, we never escape first loves. No matter how much we love our husbands, how many of us don't sometimes fantasize about that first, fresh, errant love? Where you had that first hot French kiss. We all have that part of us that longs for it and that wishes that we could get it again.

Calla Lily has that first hot love, and it stays with her as she moves through her life into other forms of love. But she doesn't fixate on it, because if we get stuck in our first love (unless we marry him and stay with him)...wow. We are in trouble.

Read the full interview »