I Wish I Had a Red Dress
How do you follow up a debut that's a New York Times bestseller,  an Oprah Book Club Selection that's still in the Amazon top 100  two years after publication? If you're canny like Cleage, author  of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, you write a sequel,  of course. Returning to Idlewild, Mich., the setting of her  first book, Cleage takes up the story of Joyce, big sister to  Ava, who was the focus of the original and who is absent from  this one, traveling the country with her husband, Eddie.  Fortysomething Joyce, a dedicated social worker, has always  tended to be an optimist, despite her overwhelmingly tragic  life. Her mother committed suicide on her wedding night, her two  children died young and her beloved husband drowned five years  ago. She's since taken to wearing black, but now she feels ready  to wear red again, hence the title. The opportunity to do so  comes in the form of Nate Anderson, a new student counselor in  town who sees in Joyce the romantic woman who's still beneath  the surface. Meanwhile, there's a lot going on at the Sewing  Circus, the space Joyce uses for social work. Inspirational,  idealistic and spiritual, the book is also sometimes judgmental,  and a decidedly "women good, men bad" tone occasionally creeps  in; some readers may find this unappealing. The bulk of the book  is more about .problem solving specifically, Joyce's efforts at  helping young African-American women become "free women" than it  is about romance. (July) Forecast: As with many of the follow-ups penned by the  Oprah-anointed, this effort will disappoint more than please the  acolytes who made the first novel such a huge success, perhaps  affecting Cleage's sales down the road. Major ad/promo; 7-city  author tour; audio from Harper Audio.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.