Author: Elizabeth Funderbirk
Book title: Love TORN Asunder
Publisher: Emerald Star Press
African-American History Examiner (AAHE): What is your book about?
Elizabeth Funderbirk (EF): Love TORN Asunder, is a twisting drama centered around an adulterous affair. Trusts are broken, friendships are tested, and loyalty is questioned in this tangled web of deceit.
Leslie is a successful, beautiful woman with a dedicated man by her side. However, when an extended absence on her dream mans behave, makes her insecurities rise, her lustful choice to see if the grass is greener causes a domino effect in the lives of the five main characters.
Leslie will have to confess her sins and deal with the revelation that not everyone who claims to be your friend has your best interest at heart.
A scorned wife, a betrayed lover, a two timing Casanova, a bitter vamp, and flawed temptress…. will they find redemption at the end?
AAHE: How did you pick the topic for Love TORN Asunder?
EF: I wanted to write a novel that dealt with the dynamics of relationships. Not just the relationship between lovers but also, those we encounter in our everyday life. To really dive into the delicate balance it takes to navigate these bonds. The topic of an affair being the catalysis of this Novel was a perfect way for me to dissect all the people who are really affected by such an act. This in most cases extends further than the two parties involved. I believe that most of my novels will deal with Relationships
AAHE: How is Love TORN Asunder different from other books that cover the same or similar information?
EF: The topic of an affair is not new to the written word. This story is however unique because of the way I allow each charters the forefront to explain their side of the story. Each character is written in a definable voice that is their own. Although this story line is nothing new my delivery has its own presence. This story is fictional but written from a very real place, which is what makes it one of a kind.
AAHE: What do you like most about being an author?
EF: The freedom to express myself on my terms. To create a book that was not only relatable but also entertaining for the reader. I have wanted to be an author for some time. One thing or another stopped my progression. Now that I released the doubt from others and my own mind, I feel free in pursuing my dream. I had no idea what it meant to get a book published when I started this journey. Now that I am slowly tip toeing my way through the door, I know this is what I was meant to do. At the end of the day, I am proud of the small feats I have won along the way. Such as just completing my debut novel, then to have it actually available is a blessing that I cannot even describe. What I like most, is that I had a dream, I worked hard, made some wise choices, some not so much, but I can show my children that this is the reward for hard work. Accomplishment!
An excerpt of Love TORN Asunder:
CHAPTER 15
HER
Kendrick has been spending a lot of time at home. He even spent Thanksgiving with me and the kids although he usually celebrated it with his family, and I went with mine. It was nice us spending it together, but he is getting antsy. I have been trying to do my best to accommodate him by allowing Bernard over without a lot of fuss. I know that this isn’t going to last long. Ever since we went to that blues lounge, The Indigo, he has been even more on edge than usual. I thought it was strange for him to invite me out without me having to push him. The last time he was so accommodating was the last time I caught him cheating on me. We had taken a cruise to the Bahamas with a group of friends. I’d paid for the trip because I just wanted to spend time with Kendrick without his friends around. I’d wanted to let him know that I would do anything for him and this marriage. Kendrick and I just couldn’t get it right . My oldest son, Robert, had moved out about a year a half ago and I became severely depressed after that. No one understood. My family said that I had chosen Kendrick over my own son. Kendrick is my husband and Robert, my first-born. Robert is an adult though and the things that he was accusing Kendrick of couldn’t have been possible. He wouldn’t have disrespected me like that in our house. I knew Kendrick did things that a husband shouldn’t do in a marriage, but he would not bring those things to my home. A year and a half ago was when I started detaching myself from Kendrick’s indiscretions.
Robert and I came home from the grocery store on a Tuesday afternoon. Robert started unloading the groceries from the trunk of my car and taking them in the house while I gathered my daughter, Rayne. I was walking through the garage to the back door when I heard the commotion. I picked up my pace and when I entered the kitchen I could tell that it was coming from upstairs. I s ecured Rayne in her high chair in the kitchen and raced to the hallway. I stood at the bottom of the staircase and watched Robert and Kendrick attack one another. I didn’t know what to do. I was planted in that spot and couldn’t find my voice. Robert’s girlfriend Emma was shouting at them to stop, that they were acting like fools. I agreed but I couldn’t talk. She looked at me asked if I was going to do anything? Was I going to get Robert off Kendrick? I couldn’t move. My baby began crying in the kitchen and I still couldn’t move. Out of nowhere, Reggie came bounding through the front door and up the stairs. He pried them apart after a few tries. Robert was staring down at me, breathing hard, nostrils flared. The glare on his face made tears spring to my eyes and burn a trail down my cheeks. He turned his anger to ward my husband, demanded that he leave and told Emma to do the same. Robert was pushing her down the stairs, one step at a time. The tears impaired my vision, which made everything blurry.
“Mom! What are you going to do about this?” I heard him but I couldn’t answer. What could I say?
“Are you going to let him stay here after this shit? He has always been a cheater, but I know you’re not going to let him get away with this!” Robert yelled, demanding answers. My lungs were burning from holding my breath. “He was fucking Emma in my room, Mom. He’s sleeping with my girlfriend under your roof!” His voice boomed throughout the house, the sound echoing inside my head. “Mom?”
I could hear Kendrick telling him to calm down and to stop raising his voice in his house. “So you’re really not going to say anything, are you? You’re just going to look the other way again? Even though this time he didn’t just fuck you over he fucked me too!” My son said those words to me, and that was the last time we stayed under the same roof.
After some time, I made sure that Robert was settled into an apartment. It too k a lot of doing since he didn’t want to speak with me and I couldn’t blame him. When things sort of fell in order, I planned the cruise. It was a five-day, four-night event. By night three, he was antsy. He couldn’t even keep it together on a boat in the middle of the ocean. One evening while I was in the shower, he left the room. I knew that he was up to something. He kept trying to get me involved in an activity to keep me busy so he could get away, but I wasn’t fall for that. I stayed stuck to his side, until I went to take a shower that is. I got out of the shower and wrapped the new robe that he purchased for this trip around my body. I then called everyone that we came with on the cruise to see if had hooked up with any of them. No one had seen or talked to him since we left after dinner. I had an idea of where he might be, but I just didn’t want to believe that he would embarrass me like this with all these people to witness it. I went straight to Barbara s room. She was the sister of one of my friends that came along. She was exactly what Kendrick liked. She had light skin and big breasts. She was very cute, so the sight of him being friendly with her made my insecurities rise. She and Kendrick had been a little too friendly for the first couple of days. My stomach was in knots and I had a bad feeling about the whole thing as I got closer to her suite. When I made it to the door, I just listened at first. I could hear him inside laughing with her. Why would he do this shit here? Why now? I knocked. They became quiet, so I knocked again, louder. Then Louder. Nothing.
“I heard y’all in there and I am not leaving until you send my husband out here, Barbara.” I heard movement. Then there was nothing. I stood there for ten damn minutes then knocked on the door to the next cabin. A woman tentatively opened the door. I asked her if I could borrow a chair. She kindly brought one out to me without question. I’m sure she coul d hear what was going on through the thin walls. At that point, I didn’t care anymore. He’d already made me look like a fool for pulling this so why should I give a fuck? I sat there, arms folded, in the middle of the hallway on the cruise that I paid for to bring us closer together. He waited another fifteen minutes before he showed his face. He came out and all he could say was a pathetic “I’m sorry”. He took me by the arm lifted me from the chair and escorted me back to our room. He didn’t say anything about what happened and foolishly, neither did I. He made love to me as soon as we got back to our suite, while I cried.
Copyright© Elizabeth Funderbirk
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To read this article and many more please go to The African American History Examiner , and read about the 100 Fresh Faces in Black Literature.
http://www.examiner.com/african-american-history-in-national/fresh-faces-black-books-love-torn-asunder-by-elizabeth-funderbirk
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