Centuries on from the discovery of her beloved island in the sun, Emily Thompson, Rose to her friends, leaves for the motherland, England, in search of a better life. One day her children will be able to join her and choose from a dazzling array of possibilities. Till then, it's hard work for the young woman in this rich man's country; not only must Rose scrape the money together for a new life, but she must also come to terms with this unknown phenomenon: di Hinglish dem... James Dunbar. Jack is what he answers to. Even from his poky council flat on the seventh floor he can see all too clearly that the streets of London are most definitely not paved with gold. Picking his way through the mucky incidents of life, he consoles himself that things will get better; his kids won't turn into ruffians and go smashing up other people's property. One day they'll all live in a house with a garden. No graffiti anywhere in sight. And no dog shit on the pavement, either... They happen to meet at a bus-stop, Emily and Jack. Encounters which do seem to contain a glint of that something better they are both looking for, if only they had the courage to reach out and touch it... An account of the black immigrant experience jostling to find its place among the white working class. A tale of how the humble live whilst waiting for their dreams to come true. Peppered with humour and compassion, Long Time Walk on Water is, above all, an unforgettable love story: the story of a mother's love and the price her family must pay for generations to come. Beautifully written... Joan Barbara Simon is a wordsmith par excellence. Sunday Gleaner

In The Red Room the reader may recline with this sumptuous collection of unabashed polished poetry and prose in which are explored both the vivid and the more subdued contours of the female sensual landscape. The wife, the mother, the mistress, the daughter. Every generation of woman has her say. Every mode of physical expression granted. The passion. The patience. The fear. And the hatred... Voicing those questions, those desires which convention has tamed out of the 'good' female, Joan Barbara Simon and her chorus of eloquent, critical protagonists dare to sidestep propriety in their search for sincere personal fulfilment and redefinitions of the intimate experience. 'Surprising literary maturity.' WASAFIRI

Miss Virginia Mendes stumbles from the bourgeois bliss of her brittle marriage into the world of virtual romance, convinced that He must be out there, somewhere... A woman who learns to know her mind and sheds her qualms about giving the world a piece of it. Of her sensuality, her philosophy, her triumphs and her pitfalls... all the Woman she is. A voracious depiction of liberty, goaded by a click of the mouse; at times a war cry, at times a wry embrace of the female quotidian. Magnificently compelling, the irresistible power of Simon's writing opens the door to our better Self.