Story Behind The Book
Raymond Barfield is a pediatric oncologist at Duke University School of Medicine and an associate professor of philosophy at Duke Divinity School. Ray has a book out from Cambridge University Press, The Ancient Quarrel between Poetry and Philosophy, and he’s working on a nonfiction trade book that explores the intersection of spirituality, philosophy and science. He also has a book of poetry that was just published in October. It’s his work with low-income African American children at Duke University Hospital and his previous experience in the ERs of Atlanta and Memphis inner-city hospitals that make him so familiar with the protagonist in The Book of Colors. Ray says he has met Yslea many times and her voice is embedded in his head.
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<div style="width:780px;float:left;margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px;clear:both;font-size:12px;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;line-height:normal;"> <h3 style="float:left;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><img alt="OUR BOOKS" border="0" height="17" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/book/our_books.png" width="110" /></h3> <div style="float:right;text-align:right;margin:0px;padding:0px;"> <p style="margin:0px 0px 8px;padding:0px;text-transform:uppercase;"><a href="http://unbridledbooks.com/our_books#catalog" style="color:rgb(51,153,204);">SEE COMPLETE ON-LINE CATALOG"</a></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 8px;padding:0px;text-transform:uppercase;"><a href="http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1101296604517&p=oi" style="color:rgb(51,153,204);">SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER</a></p> </div> </div> <div style="width:780px;float:left;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;clear:both;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;line-height:normal;"> <div class="image" style="float:left;width:380px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><img alt="The Book of Colors" border="0" height="570" src="http://www.unbridledbooks.com/images/uploads/books/BookofColors_lrg.jpg" style="margin:0px;float:left;" width="380" /><div style="width:380px;float:left;margin:20px 0px 100px;padding:0px;"> <h3 style="margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;float:none;"><img alt="READER/BOOKSELLERS TOOLS" border="0" height="12" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/book/tools_header.png" style="margin:0px 0px 5px;float:none;padding:0px;" width="185" /></h3> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(102,102,102);clear:both;">Take a look at our Bookseller Kits: marketing materials to help you display and/or to hand sell your favorite Unbridled titles, from reading guides to posters, and more!</p> <br /><a href="" style="color:rgb(51,153,204);"><img alt="Goodreads discussion" border="0" height="14" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/general/goodreads2.png" style="margin:0px;float:left;" width="70" /></a><a href="" style="color:rgb(51,153,204);"><img alt="LibraryThing discussion" border="0" height="14" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/general/librarything2.png" style="margin:0px;float:left;" width="70" /></a><a href="" style="color:rgb(51,153,204);"><img alt="Shelfari discussion" border="0" height="14" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/general/shelfari2.png" style="margin:0px;float:left;" width="70" /></a><br /> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(102,102,102);clear:both;"> </p> </div> <div class="pressquotes" style="margin:0px 0px 100px;padding:0px;font-family:'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size:16px;line-height:20px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(102,102,102);float:left;clear:both;"> <h3 style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;"><img alt="WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:" border="0" height="13" src="http://unbridledbooks.com/img/book/readers_header.png" style="margin:0px;float:none;" width="217" /></h3> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“Yslea is a keen-eyed young woman with a wandering mind who picks up on fine details of the little things of life…. A beautifully written debut”—<b>BOOKLIST</b></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“In the traditions of Toni Morrison and Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Barfield presents a gorgeous and dismaying human tapestry from the edges of Southern society. … An ethereal story of poverty and redemption that ends with a phoenix-like flourish and abounds with grace.” — <b>Foreword Reviews</b></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“I just finished THE BOOK OF COLORS. I cried at the end, which I almost never do, not because it was sad but because it was so sweet and clear and beautifully written ... different in a really wonderful way.”— <b>Cathy Langer, The Tattered Cover bookstore. </b></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“Barfield’s The Book of Colors is a remarkable debut, a story told by a young woman whose nearly-perfect voice evokes Flannery O’Connor’s characters when they are simultaneously in a state of chaos and grace.” — <b>Wayne Caldwell</b></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“I was lucky enough to see the first draft of The Book of Colors, and the beautiful strength of both the author and the main character has stayed with me a very long time. Kudos to Unbridled for bringing two powerful voices to light.”—<b>Carl Lennertz</b></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;width:370px;">“Yslea’s world is small, but it embraces an immense universe of wonderments, bright emotions, slant thoughts and patterns that only she can discover. In The Book of Colors Raymond Barfield reveals a story like no other I have experienced, inexorably dark in circumstance but triumphantly luminous in spirit. ‘We are made up of pieces but somehow we feel whole.’ That wholeness is celebrated in these brave pages. They seized upon me like an angelic visitation. What a wonderful novel!” — <b>Fred Chappell</b></p> </div> </div> </div>