By the Rivers of Babylon

This emotionally entwining fiction could also be many people's real lives. Dealing with several of the most contentious issues in our current society, this story bears on the conscience of all political, religious and ethnic groups by addressing the heart of the matter. What does it take to live truly while having the very core of your lives tested, tormented? All of that swirls around two boys that grew up in the hard ghetto and both aspire to be preachers in their early childhood. Both extremely intelligent, handsome and able. Both avoid the pulpit when they mature. One becomes a vice cop and the other a Mafioso protégé. But who is the real hypocrite? Caught in the middle of both their love for a lone woman is `Bunny' who must decide the fate of her very being, by deciding which man she truly loves and what to do about it. Caught in the middle are the readers, themselves, as they take a stark view of religious hypocrisy, moral vice/integrity and where truth really resides in peace. There are those kind of `religious' stories which bore one with there cookie-cutter plots and lines and patronizations. You will find none of that in this most excellent tale. There is no prescription, no magic wand of religion waved here. Yet, deep between their lives, is a gut wrenching faith wrung out of the pains and revelations within this story that I had to read above all the other many important tasks of my day. It was a truly enjoyable experience and I recommend this novel to all folks, young and old. It would be most excellent as part of any literature curriculum. Darryl Markowitz- author of Call of the Tree Book I of the Faithwalker Series Former high school science teacher. Call of the Tree: The legacy from the Tree of Life as passed down through generations to the unknown... (Faith Walker)

Day after day of despair, denigration, danger in an arching echo of violence and death by gun, knife, suicide and emotional fatigue; cement blocks in a built environment of din and no win; metal encased doors, multiple locks, industrial plumbing, broken elevators, and stairwells of terror...the hot stale air of a ramshackle Third Ward apartment...Hell with the lid lifted. In this maze one finds families, children, old people, calculated courting, loneliness, mind-numbing boredom, unchallenged spirit, wit and creativity channeled into a survival game; lost souls looking for love in all the wrong places, beaten down psyches self-enslaved to the "Dude of the Moment." The anti-hero reigns...but is that all there is? This stark question and its answer is folded in these 358 pages of a breathtaking and fast paced journey into the dynamics of a wrenching love story seeded on the banks of a dark river snaking through a bleak housing project in the urban backyard of American politics. Brown-Austin's book is loaded with slick semiotics, parody, pain, bravado and yearning, yearning for what? The hapless context almost overwhelms the possibility of even the slightest redemption; a fragile hope of reaching the sweet golden shores of Beulah land; finding normalcy on the lip of a volcano - miraculously, love steps out of the shadows, swims past the waves of lust and bitterness in reaching the promised land of love on par between a man and a woman - respect, dignity and mutual protection. An incredulously slippery route clogged with dead ends, sharp curves guarded by the inverted ritual of face and strut; bad-ass, casual stance, diamond glance, schooled indifference, muscle-bound ebony capable of rendering a physical oblivion of lust with a demand for more, and more, and more. Brown-Austin's primo characters are captivating: Alexander Lincoln Duvall is checkmated by a mysterious undulating river-of-a-woman, Gabriella...like the Angel! This book is not a book for the florid love story crowd. It serves up a gory autopsy of gang violence, and machismo choking the very life out of a low-level rat as a lesson to the big cats hiding in the shadows. You want a love story that includes "A black panther-man with sequins for eyes" and an "Angelfied" woman capable of enveloping all and any insecurities a dude might be hiding? With the need for gamesmanship abandoned, their love flame flares from blue to indigo, embracing the stars. Go for it; it will knock the socks off your insomnia hours. _____ BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON Cindy Brown Austin Strebor Books, New York: 2007 Jess Maghan, PhD - Chester, CT. [email protected]

This was an enjoyable read for our book club. The writer did a wonderful job at providing the reader with characters rich in personality and spiritual turmoil. The story iilustrates how we are not alone in this world and how we can succumb to evil but overcome that evil with Love.

Author Cindy Brown Austin has penned a wonderful Christian Fiction novel that will touch the soul and cause you to rethink everything about project living, thug life and all that it entails. That old saying, "never judge a book by its cover" comes to mind as the author takes you on a journey through the life of Lincoln Duvall. Linc, as he is known in the Wards or projects, Trece or Third to be exact, was someone to be reckoned with. He built himself up in the drug game by becoming a runner and then finally creating an empire of his own that he planned out strategically to ensure that there was money to be made in the Wards located in Heartford, CT. Who knew the day that he met Gabriella Sinclaire would be the beginning of Linc coming full circle to deal with his past and ultimately define the future God had in store for him? Gabriella's relationship with Linc was one of intrigue, mystique, curiosity and love. Gabriella's walk with God was tested as she went with her instincts to write the story The Heartford Chronicle asked her to write. After all, she was from that side of the community and could relate with the drug dealers and all those who lived there. Taking matters in her own hands at the cost of her relationship with her fiancé Trevis, Gabriella pursued her story that she knew the Notorious Lincoln Duvall had to tell by rolling with him in his world, witnessing and giving ear to things that she was to accept and not judge, but write from a perspective of humanity. Linc gave her that and more, causing her to have to repent for her actions and yet trust God to bring about deliverance in Linc that only He could. Drugs, murder, money, women, cars, nice home and all that money could buy was who Linc was, but as he put it, Gabriella was working her saved thing on him and he could not help himself... he was drawn to the Spirit of God in her and more. Author Brown Austin made a very profound statement in her book that sticks with me, and that is, "Sometimes, the worst kind of pain we can ever experience happens when we are turned over to the power of our own will and the consequences of our choices." I recommend this to anyone who has a loved one who is in the drug game and it seems they cannot be redeemed. In it you will find the redeeming love of God, His mercy and His grace, even a God Who redeems time. Reviewed by Sharel E. Gordon-Love Apooo BookClub

By the Rivers of Babylon by Cindy Brown Austin is a fiction novel with adventure and a unique love story. This novel captures and keeps your attention from beginning to end. An excellent plot with outstanding characters. The author cleverly writes about how the world of a drug lord and the world of a devout Christian lady collide and it changes both of them. Once I began reading, I quickly became captivated by the storyline and could not turn the pages fast enough. This book is highly recommended because of its originality, excellent writing, and unpredictability. Perhaps a sequel is forthcoming....if so, I would love to read it.