Eleanor Parker Sapia’s debut novel A Decent Woman (Booktrope 2015) focuses on the lives of two women from different backgrounds but with shared experiences at the turn of the (past) century, starting in 1899 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, with the onslaught of the San Ciriaco hurricane. It explores race, class and gender in the context of the legacy of slavery.

Description: Ponce, Puerto Rico, at the turn of the century: Ana Belén Opaku, an Afro-Cuban born into slavery, is a proud midwife with a tempestuous past. After testifying at an infanticide trial, Ana is forced to reveal a dark secret from her past, but continues to hide an even more sinister one. Pitted against the parish priest, Padre Vicénte, and young Doctór Héctor Rivera, Ana must battle to preserve her twenty-five year career as the only midwife in La Playa. Serafina is a respectable young widow with two small children, who marries an older, wealthy merchant from a distinguished family. A crime against Serafina during her last pregnancy forever bonds her to Ana in an ill-conceived plan to avoid a scandal and preserve Serafina’s honor.

Set against the combustive backdrop of a chauvinistic society, where women are treated as possessions, A Decent Woman is the provocative story of these two women as they battle for their dignity and for love against the pain of betrayal and social change.

Eleanor Parker Sapia: A Puerto Rican-born novelist with a rich personal trajectory, Eleanor Parker Sapia has lived in the United States, Puerto Rico, France, Greece, Austria, and Belgium. Eleanor’s life experiences as a counselor, alternative health practitioner, a Spanish language social worker, and a refugee case worker, inspire her passion for writing. A Decent Woman is her debut novel.

For more information on the writer, visit Eleanor Parker Sapia’s website at https://elliesbookz.wordpress.com/

For purchasing information, see http://www.amazon.com/Decent-Woman-Eleanor-Parker-Sapia-ebook/dp/B00TUP47WI