Description

Fictional family saga provides human insight into segregated South
Dr. Rose Mary Stiffin shares three families’ struggles of love, secrets, and revenge in
Walk in Bethel
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – First-time author Dr. Rose Mary Stiffin draws upon her early life in the South in the historical family saga, Walk in Bethel (ISBN 1452838909). While her story contains the dramatic dynamic of three families, the book offers a blend of history, culture, romance, and action. This historical saga of the Thompsons and Suttons connects the families to a man named Mike Poe, whose presence intertwines with the fates of both.
Nashville Thompson, the wife of Reverend Carl Thompson, is attacked in a cotton field by the white Ferguson brothers, who attempt to rape her until Mike Poe, a close friend of the reverend, dramatically saves her. She and Mike make their way home to avoid the revenge-seeking Fergusons, but end up committing a desperate sin they will take to their graves.
The lives of the Suttons and Thompsons unfold as honest and familiar characters: Nashville Thompson copes with racism, injustice, and betrayal, while Robert Sutton has endured a tortured life of loss and adulterous experiences.
Sutton devises a plan to murder his employers out of revenge for his sister’s death. Alone and grief stricken, he blows into the sleepy Mississippi village of Heathman and meets Nashville’s pale-skinned, green-eyed daughter, Allene. It is only after they marry that Allene learns of Sutton’s horrific secret.
Over the course of generations, from one century to the next, the families suffer death, racism, reconciliation of lost loves, and acts of revenge and devastation. Stiffin aims to provide readers with an unforgettable story that links several generations in an ultimate story of survival that. Her debut novel illustrates that which is forgiven is never forgotten.
While Stiffin does not glorify slavery or ignore its consequences, she hopes to provide the reader with a clear picture of racism, the civil rights struggle and events that shaped the lives of the people in the South.
“I based this book on my own family history,” said Stiffin. “The lives of some of the people from my childhood resonated with me all these years, and I settled down to write this novel based on their lives and experiences.”
Walk in Bethel is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author:
Dr. Rose Mary Stiffin was raised and educated in Indianola, Miss., notably the hometown of blues legend BB King. After receiving her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Tenn., she completed her post-doctoral work at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. She is the chair of the Division of Health and Natural Sciences at Florida Memorial University, a small, historically black college (HBCU) in Miami Gardens. Stiffin has written several short stories that have been published in various literary publications. Walk in Bethel is her first novel.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Rose Mary Stiffin, PhD
Email: rose.stiffin@yahoo.com
Phone: (305) 332-7179

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