In recent decades the themes of family love, understanding and unity have been at the forefront in our society. From the music of Sly and the Family Stone ("Family Affair"), and the O' Jays ("Family Reunion"); To the popular cinema juggernauts of "Cheaper By the Dozen", "Johnson Family Reunion", "life with father", "Home Alone", and the wildly popular "Madea's Family Reunion "; To American politicians' favorite mantra of "Family Values" ---- the focus on family dynamics and family relational health has remained a permanent feature of our culture. And yet, despite its importance, the notion of "family" is still perhaps one of the least understood and most threatened facets of contemporary society.

Charlene Ashford's scintillating account of the Porter family will warm the heart and delight the imagination while providing brilliant insights into the meaning of family. Readers will meet the unforgettable characters of the Porter Family: the grand matriarch - the glue that holds the family together; the quick-tempered Aunt, the wise cracking quip-a-minute brother, the brooding and tempestuous sister, the envy-bitten sister; the volatile, "doesn't-have-a-clue" brother; the always available, understanding, and affable undertaker.

Prepare to experience laughter, heartbreak, heartache, disappointment, sadness, anxiety, and the tenacity of hope as the Porter family faces internal challenges of divisiveness, misunderstandings, relational strife, health deterioration, and death. Witness the attempts of flawed human beings to navigate the unpredictable moments of the human condition as they revel in their limited capacity to manage serendipity.

Follow the Porter family Heroine who, despite her feet of clay, tries desperately to keep the fragmented family on the path of unity. In the end, the reader is certain to adopt an empathic stand in favor of the Porter family's efforts to successfully pull it all together. Will the Porter family be able to garner the therapeutic and healing resources that will enable them to arrive at a place of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption?

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison mastered the unique skill of bending language to her will so that the reader was mesmerized and helplessly pulled into the drama of the narrative. Charlene Ashford has proven equally adept at coaxing language out of its chair and onto the dance floor. Once there, she frees language to initiate the dance of liberation -- to twirl, twist, leap, roll, and bounce from the page to the eye to the heart to the soul with dexterity and humor. Ashford's narrative achieves its aim -- to promote a story of family redemption, where individual self-discovery and communal restoration become possibilities for all those who desire it deep enough and strong enough to pursue it