Meet Indie author Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali & E-Book Give-away

Authors corner on my blog is for authors to introduce themselves to new readers, or to update those that are already readers of their books. If you are an author who would like to "speak" to my fellow bloggers, then please contact me. I would love to hear from you.

Today meet Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali

About the Author:

Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali lives and works in Houston, Texas as an oncology nurse. She is married and the mother to three brilliant artistic children who far outstrip her in intelligence.
She writes because she loves to and also because she has a story (or two, or three...) to tell.

How did you come to write An Unproductive Woman?

An Unproductive Woman was written almost fifteen years ago. At the time my children were young and our favorite affordable activity was our visits to the library. I read voraciously, willing to try almost any author or genre. I wrote AUW in reaction to what I was, at the time, scarcely able to find in contemporary literature trends. There were some alternative stories, and I devoured them, but I didn’t see any representations of myself. In AUW, I wrote the type of story that I would have wanted to read, one that bravely strays away from our traditional western Judeo-Christian sensibilities and offers a valid alternative existence. I hope that I’ve been successful

What were some of your influences?

AUW was influenced in great part by watching Nigerian movies. My husband, who is Nigerian, used to rent several each week. They were hyper dramatic and pretty awfully made, though in recent years they have improved greatly. By watching Nigerian dramas I learned a lot about African familial expectations, which are quite different from our own here in the west. I also wrote AUW to answer the question that was most often posed to me by those curious about my faith.

What would you do if your husband married a second wife?

Synopsis:  

After ten years of marriage, Asabe and Adam remain childless. Fueled by desperation and a long held secret, Adam marries a second wife. This decision acts as the catalyst to change no one could have predicted. Read An Unproductive Woman to learn what secrets Adam has withheld that would explain his unreasonable longing and pursuit of a son at all costs."I’ve found the girl I intend to marry,” Adam announced two months prior. “I know that you do not want me to marry again, but I must. If it disturbs you, if you find it too painful, I will divorce you if you like; but I know of no other man who would want and unproductive woman.”

　Khaalidah is willing to give away three coupons to get AUW for free in ebook format to the first three people who email her.  Reviews requested

Contact her at khaalidahma@gmail.com

Khaalidah can also be found on Goodreads, Smashwords and Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Book Review -- An Unproductive Woman - Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali

Title:- An Unproductive Woman

Author:- Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali

Publisher:- Xlibris

Format:- Kindle version

This was just my kind of book. I have a love of books relating to other cultures like "A Thousand Splendid Suns", "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". Although these books are possibly still in a different league to this and I gave them a 5* rating being my favourite books, I still gave this a 5* rating because I loved it.

The story is about the marriage of Asabe and Adam and his hidden secret. They have been married for 10 years but have not been able to have children. Although Adam loves Asabe and said he would never take another wife, he really wants a son and heir. He therefore takes a second wife Fatima, who is just a mere child. Fatima and Asabe actually become good friends and develop a good relationship. Fatima does eventually give birth to twins, but both her and her son die and Asabe willingly brings up the daughter as her own. Still wanting a son and heir, Adam takes another wife, who he doesn't really love but comes to an "arrangement" with her father. Asabe and this wife definately do not get on, despite being friends in their childhood. I won't tell more, for fear of leaving spoilers.

I really liked Asabe, and although I found Adam somewhat weak I did feel for him. Asabe to me, was written as a strong character and I really admired her. Despite not liking the character Sauda, the third wife, I had such an amusing picture of her in my head. For those who watch the soap Eastenders in the UK, I pictured her as Kim Fox, brassy and over the top with lots of cleavage and heavily made up. That may not be how the author portrayed her but that is the image I got of her. I love a book when you can form a real picture of the characters in your head. I enjoyed reading about the culture of the polygamous wedding which is alien to a westerner.

All in all the book was descriptive, fun, full of content and well written.

This book was provided to me free of charge by the author, but this did in no way affect my opinion when reviewing the book.

For an interview with the author and a free e-book international giveaway please see my upcoming post.

Coming soon - Author host and e-book giveaway

Coming soon I have the author Khaalidah Muhammad Ali, who will be writing about her book An Unproductive Woman. I will also be reviewing the book.

Khaalidah has kindly offered to giveaway copies of her e-book in exchange for a review. She is a new author so needs the support from the lovely readers, bloggers and book reviewers out there. I was impressed with the book so keep an eye out for my review.