{"product_id":"9780380794874","title":"What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day","description":"  \u003cp\u003eAcclaimed Playwright, essayist and columnist Pearl Cleage breaks new ground in African American women's literature—with a debut novel that sings and crackles with life-affirming energy as it moves the reader to laughter and tears.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a girl growing up in Idlewild, Michigan, Ava Johnson had always heard that, if you were young, black, and had any sense at all, Atlanta was the place to be. So as soon as she was old enough and able enough, that was where she went—parlaying her smarts and her ambition into one of the hottest hair salons in town. In no time, she was moving with the brothers and sisters who had beautiful clothes, big cars, bigger dreams, and money in the bank.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, after more than a decade of elegant pleasures and luxe living, Ava has come home, her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits on one dark truth. Ava Johnson has tested positive for HIV. And she's back in little Idlewild to spend a quiet summer with her widowed sister, Joyce, before moving on to finish her life in San Francisco, the most HIV-friendly place she can imagine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut what she thinks is the end is only the beginning because there's too much going down in her hometown for Ava to ignore. There's the Sewing Circus—sister Joyce's determined effort to educate Idlewild's young black women about sex, drugs, pregnancy, whatever. . .despite the interference of the good Reverend Anderson and his most virtuous, \"Just say no\" wife. Plus Joyce needs a helping hand to make a loving home for Imani, an abandoned crack baby whom she's taken into her heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd then there's Wild Eddie, whose legendary background in violence combined with his Eastern gentility has stirred Ava's interest.. .and something more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the ten-plus years since Ava left, all the problems of the big city—drugs, crime, disease have come home to roost in the sleepy North Michigan community whose ordinariness once drove her away. Now she cannot turn her back on friends and family who sorely need her in the face of impending trouble and tragedy. Things are getting very interesting in Idlewild these days. Besides which, the unthinkable thing has started happening: Ava Johnson is failing in love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA remarkable novel sizzling with sensuality, rollicking with wild humor, and humming with gritty truth, in \u003ci\u003eWhat Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day\u003c\/i\u003e. . .Pearl Cleage has created a world rich in character, human drama, and deep, compassionate understanding.As a girl growing up in Idlewild, Michigan, Ava Johnson had always heard that, if you were young, black, and had any sense at all, Atlanta was the place to be. So as soon as she was old enough and able enough, that was where she went—parlaying her smarts and her ambition into one of the hottest hair salons in town. In no time, she was moving with the brothers and sisters who had beautiful clothes, big cars, bigger dreams, and money in the bank. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, after more than a decade of elegant pleasures and luxe living, Ava has come home, her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits on one dark truth. Ava Johnson has tested positive for HIV. And she's back in little Idlewild to spend a quiet summer with her widowed sister, Joyce, before moving on to finish her life in San Francisco, the most HIV-friendly place she can imagine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd then there's Wild Eddie, whose legendary back ground in violence combined with his Eastern gentility has stirred Ava's interest...and something more. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the ten-plus years since Ava left all the problems of the big city—drugs, crime, disease—have come home to roost in the sleepy North Michigan community whose ordinariness once drove her away. Now she cannot turn her back on friends and family who sorely need her in the face of impending trouble and tragedy. Things are getting very interesting in Idlewild these days. Besides which, the unthinkable thing has started happening: Ava Johnson is falling in love. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor Biography:  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePearl Cleage is the author of \u003ci\u003eMad at Miles: A Black Woman's Guide to Truth\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDeals with the Devil and Other Reasons to Riot.\u003c\/i\u003e An accomplished Playwright, she teaches playwriting at Spelman College, is a cofounder of the literary magazine \u003ci\u003eCatalyst\u003c\/i\u003e and writes a column for the \u003ci\u003eAtlanta Tribune.\u003c\/i\u003e Ms. Cleage lives in Atlanta with her husband. \u003ci\u003eWhat Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day.\u003c\/i\u003e . . is her first novel.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47025193058544,"sku":"9780380794874","price":17.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780380794874_p0.jpg?v=1763693583","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780380794874","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}