Friends and Lovers

Eric Jerome Dickey chronicles the lives, loves, and challenges of young African Americans with humor and poignancy that places him clearly alongside such popular authors as Bebe Moore Campbell, Connie Brisco, and Terry McMillan. In Friends and Lovers, two couples set off on different roads in the search for the kind of love that will last. Deborah and Leonard meet late at night in a Denny's. She is a smart, no-nonsense OB/GYN who has sworn off sex before marriage--no more men slipping into her bed after sundown and leaving before sunup. He is a dark, complicated, and spiritual man who makes his living as an entertainer. He is drawn to her strength and intelligence; she falls for his deep sensitivity. They choose to marry. Shelby and Tyrel are both on the rebound after tumultuous relationships. They fall in love hard and fast, and move in together. When Shelby finds out she is pregnant, she takes a step back and compares her situation to her friend Deborah's. Afraid that Tyrel's commitment isn't solid and she might end up a single mother, like her own mom, Shelby shuts Tyrel out. Wracked by feelings of betrayal, he flees the relationship and Los Angeles. But tragedy will reunite them in a moment of crisis. Their painful reunion will underscore that there is no right road to love, only an ongoing effort to cope with life and the surprising and imperfect ways that it unfolds. Eric Jerome Dickey's sharp wit and warm humor, his gift for genuine characters, and his connection to real-life issues all make Friends and Lovers a perceptive, moving, and highly enjoyable novel of modern life.