It is the spring weekend of the Peach Blossom Festival in the tiny middle Georgia town of Mulberry, but things are far from sweet for the Pines women. LaShawndra, an eighteen-year-old hoochie-mama who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up...again. But this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it. Not that her mother seems to care; after all, Sandra is busy working on her real estate career and on the local minister. It's LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former schoolteacher, principal, school board administrator, and highly respected cornerstone of the Mulberry community, who is scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter. Over the course of one weekend these three disparate women, guided by a trio of unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. In this magical, deeply resonant novel, Tina McElroy Ansa goes straight to the heart of women's relationships to reveal the soul that bonds us all. The pleasures of Tina McElroy Ansa's sharp-witted fourth novel, You Know Better , are obvious from the first pages, in which we are introduced to the author's lovable, imperfect characters, her gift for capturing the rhythms of speech, and her dead-on observations of African American family life at the turn of the 21st century. In her hands, what could've read like Touched by an Angel instead is a tender and rueful study of the forces that shape three generations of women. Lily, a successful former school teacher and administrator, is out at midnight, combing the streets of her small Georgia town for her teenage granddaughter, LaShawndra, who's in trouble again. Lily's daughter, Sandra, is too busy making money and trying to attract the new pastor to pay attention to the chaos of LaShawndra's life, let alone to take responsibility for the girl's misbehavior or her low self-esteem. But before the next day is over, each of the women will be visited by a guiding spirit and forced to face what they have been running from. A spiritual novel free of sentimentality or preaching, You Know Better suggests that most people already know what's wrong with their lives, but it may take divine intervention to motivate them to fix their problems. --Regina Marler A runaway teenager, an oblivious mother, and a worried grandmother take center stage in this new work from Ansa, whose Ugly Ways was the 1994 African American Blackboard Novel of the Year. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Three generations of Pines women finally come to terms with their own frailties. Lily Pines, mother and grandmother, is a natural nurturer, educator, and community leader who has always provided security for her family. Her daughter, Sandra, well bred and pampered, has become self-centered and preoccupied with her own wishes and needs. Her daughter, LaShawndra, is an 18-year-old hoochie-mama struggling to reconcile her dream of becoming a dancer in a music video with the mundane daily responsibility of surviving. It is another one of her miscalculated mishaps that jump-starts this weekend epiphany. The spirits of three renowned Mulberry, Georgia, women visit and assist Lily, Sandra, and LaShawndra in reevaluating their perceptions of themselves and their relationships with one another. After such emotionally charged encounters, these women are finally able to interact with one another in a healthier way by loving each other's attributes as well as accepting each other's shortcomings. Ansa has done a superb job of weaving the supernatural and natural into an engrossing tale about women and relationships. Lillian Lewis Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “Emotionally charged…Ansa has done a superb job of weaving the supernatural and natural into an engrossing tale about women and relationships.” - Booklist It is the spring weekend of the Peach Blossom Festival in the tiny middle Georgia town of Mulberry, but things are far from sweet for the Pines women. LaShawndra, an eighteen-year-old hoochie-mama who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up...again. But this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it. Not that her mother seems to care; after all, Sandra is busy working on her real estate career and on the local minister. It's LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former schoolteacher, principal, school board administrator, and highly respected cornerstone of the Mulberry community, who is scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter. Over the course of one weekend these three disparate women, guided by a trio of unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. In this magical, deeply resonant novel, Tina McElroy Ansa goes straight to the heart of women's relationships to reveal the soul that bo