BOOK CLUB: Strawberry Mansion A Philadelphia Story
2 min read
By Julia Press Simmons
Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story is a dramatic tale of three young friends who must rely on their connection to each other to weather tragic storms.
Tabitha lost her freedom in high school when she hooked up with a boy who would impregnate her and make her his punching bag. Lisa is deemed “the strong one” by her friends, but her own past of sexual abuse and pregnancy at the hands of her stepfather keeps her one second away from falling apart as the drama builds. Their younger friend, Shanice, is a hellion, ready and willing to let any boy have her just to get the affection she believes her mother has withheld. As their world spirals out of control, they cling fast to one another in the hope that love, friendship, and strength will not only keep them together but will also move them to a better place in their lives.
Strawberry Mansion is loosely based on my life… At 15 I fell in love with a man who stole my innocence and pushed me to the brink of insanity. At 16 I was a mother who had been effectively cut off from my family. At 17 I started to write my story. He found it beat me bloody and burned it in the backyard, but you can’t erase words from a writer’s soul. Nor can you erase the bond of friendship between young women who have nothing but each other. Strawberry Mansion was picked up by Urban Books and will be rereleased in March 2023 with additional chapters and can be purchased wherever books are sold. Pre Orders are Available now! VICTORY! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
About the Author
I WRITE DRAMA ACROSS THE GENRES Julia Press Simmons is the CEO Amerime Media LLC, Sticky Situations LLC, and the EIC of Amerime Wire Magazine and Intellectual Ink Magazine. She is the critically acclaimed author of more than twenty books including, the Strawberry Mansion and Fornication series. Julia writes Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction, and Comic Books with her husband under the pen names Simmons Gibbs and Mwandishi. She is an award-winning Spoken Word Artist and Playwright. Her play “Down There” was selected by the Shades of Black Festival Emerging Playwright’s Series in Nashville, Tenn. “Down There” also received a staged reading by the African American Playwriting Exchange in New York City. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family.
