NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., Aug. 19, 2009 — At fourteen months old, Janet “Shady” Shahadi, was bundled into a taxi by her pregnant mother and delivered to her father’s cigar store. The cabby unceremoniously placed Shady on top of a pile of newspapers on the counter of her father’s store and left. Thus begins the long journey of “Call Me Shady” (published by iUniverse) by Carole Southwood.
Shady’s father, George Shahadi, a bookie and erstwhile aspiring gangster, is not at all pleased by the arrival of his infant daughter. However, his friend, Larry Sarky offers to take Shady home to his parents. Shady is subsequently raised by the Sarky family until she is seven years old. Her childhood is pleasantly memorable until her father and her godmother, Mrs. Sarky, have a falling out. In an act of vindictiveness, George Shahadi takes Shady and her brother, who the Sarkys raised as well, to live with him.
Life with the Sarkys was nurturing and good. Conversely, life with Shady’s father is filled with neglect and abuse by both him and the various babysitters he employs. The sitters are tenants of George’s, with whom he makes deals; a reduction in rent in exchange for watching his kids. The babysitters are various and unpleasant. The children are shuffled between George’s various properties which can be generously classified as tenements. Eventually Shady’s father buys a little house in a neighborhood and the children are left there to live primarily on their own. By this time, Shady is eleven and her brother is nine. In time, the children accidentally set fire to the place and the state soon takes over. The children are quickly separated from their father and from each other.
From there readers follow Shady as she grows up in a home for “wayward girls” run by an order of Catholic Nuns. As Shady grows into an adult, her life is fraught with tragedy, mishaps and mistakes; some as a result of poor circumstance and some a result of her own actions. “Call Me Shady” is a saga of adversity and triumph that will leave all who read it inspired to prevail in their own life.
A life-long writer, Carole Southwood is a native of Niagara Falls, NY with a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Southwood is an alumnus of the prestigious Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She currently works in non-traditional education assisting adults in earning their post-secondary degrees.
iUniverse is the premier book publisher for emerging, self-published authors. For more information, please visit http://www.iuniverse.com.
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