#600 Sisters of the Rain- J. California Cooper
“Some people say with a smile, ‘You write all love stories.’ Well, I say…I try to write about needs…and Love is our greatest need.”
This quote opens the collection Some Soul to Keep, by the wonderful writer, J. California Cooper. I am looking forward to the six stories in this book. Sisters of the Rain is about progress and family. A dying woman, wants her daughter to learn to read and makes sure she gets to school at least for a month a year. On her death bed she writes a note pleading for the teacher to give her daughter a book so she can continue to learn.
That daughter cherishes that book (a book of geography) and names her own children after things from the book, Egypt, Pyramid, Superior and Africa. Like mother like daughter…she dies leaving a wish that her children stay in school. Superior, her eldest daughter takes the wish to heart and takes a job so she can stay in school.
Her struggle is to keep true to her promise, and her family. She fights shame, degradation, jealousy, and desire to pass on to her children the promise she has tried to fulfill.
Notable Passage: “If you ain’t watching life, you won’t know what to do with the life you got in your hands.”
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