BALTIMORE — Two prominent black women have headlined recent articles about the lack of available black men and the desire for women over 40 to get married and have babies.
The first was tennis superstar, Serena Williams because of her marriage to a non-black man. The second, actor Tracie Ellis Ross who in her recent speech at the Glamour’s 2017 Women of the Year summit, shared that her career successes continually took backstage to questions about when she would get married and have children.
Maryland-based author, D.M. Cuffie tackles both of these topics in her engaging and humorous, debut novel, “At Least Once” where she shares the experiences of eight single black Christian women.
“I was reading one of Jennifer Weiner’s novels, and a particular chapter in her book about a support group for women had me laughing hysterically because I could relate so well to the situations,” said Cuffie. “I decided to write about some of mine and my single Christian girlfriends adventures, since we encounter many of the regular challenges of being single along with the need for a support group.”
In “At Least Once,” the main character Breeze Monsoon is a nine-time bridesmaid and a poster child for contentment. She is completely content with her loving family and is perfectly content with being a cheerleader for her circle of friends; content with seeing her students retain algebra and geometry; spiritually content with her relationship with Him (God) and most of His children; and absolutely content that her last date, which ended in a complete disaster was three years ago.
Unconvinced that Breeze is “content” with her non-existent love life, her aunt and best friend take matters into their own hands to get her love life on the right track— at least once— by enrolling her in a class, specializing in “relationship repair” for Christian single women.
Through prayer, laughter, field trips and the ability to be completely transparent without judgment, Breeze and seven other women take an eight-month journey encouraging each other, keeping each other accountable to His word, through plenty of necessary girl talk; with the goal of rediscovering themselves, reclaiming their joy, and redefining the petitions of their heart.
“At Least Once,” was a finalist in the 2016 ‘Best Book Award’ in the African-American fiction category. It’s the first book in author D.M. Cuffie’s “While We Wait series.” To learn more about D.M. Cuffie and her book, “At Least Once,” visit: www.dmcuffieauthor.com