Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's debut novel Powder Necklace comes out spring 2010 on Simon & Schuster's Atria Books imprint!

SYNOPSIS
What happens to sheltered, horny Lila Adjei when her mother sends her packing on an indefinite "vacation" to her unfamiliar homeland, Ghana?

Suddenly thrust into the Third World nation's alien reality of water shortages, petty corruption, and intense religious faith, Lila turns her shell shock into an adventure of cultural, spiritual and self discovery. But when her mother finally allows her to return to England, it becomes clear that her globe-spanning quest to find herself has only just begun.

Inspired by a true story, Powder Necklace explores what happens when cultures, generations, and powerful personalities collide – in one family. Like Zadie Smith's White Teeth, Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory and Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake it mingles laughter with bitterness, community with loneliness, desperate preservation of culture with the rebellious ache to assimilate in a fresh, sharp, and powerful new voice.

BIO
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has written for AOL, Parenting Magazine, the Village Voice, Metro and Trace Magazine. Her short story “Bush Girl” was published in the May 2008 issue of African Writing and her poem, “The Whinings of a Seven Sister Cum Laude Graduate Working Board as an Assistant,” was published in 2006’s Growing up Girl Anthology. A cum laude graduate of Vassar College, she attended secondary school in Ghana. Powder Necklace is loosely based on the experience. Visit NanaEkua.com for more.