Chasing Butterflies In The Sunlight

Chasing Butterflies in Sunlight" describes the joys and innocence of childhood experienced by Ronke, growing up in a beautiful, culturally and racially diverse world on a University campus in Nigeria. A Nigerian-American mother, Ronke, living in Baltimore, Maryland, with three young children, is somewhat exhausted by being pestered to tell them made up stories every night. In the hope that they will read to themselves, she decides to write them stories loosely based upon her wonderful experiences as a child growing up in the safe, idyllic, and comfortable environment of the University campus. In the stories, which span seven of her formative years, Ronke learns about her family history, and enjoys many adventures and escapades and plenty of exciting travel within Nigeria and overseas, until she eventually has to leave her childhood behind.

"Chasing the Sun" is a guide to Western fiction with more than 1,350 entries, including 59 reviews of the author's personal favorites, organized around theme.

She heard a voice seemingly coming from far away. Was it talking to her? What did it want? No! She couldn't do this again! She couldn't face feelings! She couldn't face the pain of reality. It hurt too much. The distant voice was asking too much! She flailed at the on-lookers, wobbled to her feet and desperately made her way out the door.

Alright, listen up, folks. Let me spin you a yarn, a love story that will melt your butter and have you cheering for these star-crossed sweethearts like they're at the Olympics. Now, imagine Paris, see? Sun setting like a fiery tango dancer, painting the sky in shades of orange and longing. There's this girl, Chloé, eyes like sapphires and a spirit as sharp as a well-honed blade. In her hand, a crumpled letter, whispering promises turned to dust, signed with the very name that sends shivers down her spine – Benjamin. Distance, they thought, would be a whisper between their hearts. More like a chasm, right? Letters, supposed to be bridges, turned into tombstones of silence. The meadows they shared, filled with laughter and sun, now echoed with an emptiness that gnawed at her soul. But Chloé, she ain't built for wilting. That glint in her eyes, that's not tears, that's defiance. This ain't over, not by a long shot. This is just a tangled knot in their tapestry, waiting to be unraveled. Meanwhile, across the salty ocean, under a sky that's more green than blue, Benjamin wrestles with his own demons. His letters, once lifelines, are swallowed by the void, unanswered, unloved. His heart, a field where their love once bloomed, feels fallow now, haunted by phantoms of betrayal. But just like the stubborn weeds that push through concrete, hope refuses to die. He sees Chloé everywhere, not in the missing letters, but in the sunlight dappling leaves, in the rain singing on his windowpane. Her spirit, a whisper woven into his very being, won't be silenced. So, you see, their story, even though it's stretched thin by miles and deceit, it's still playing out in harmony. Chloé, in the concrete jungle, unravels the threads of lies, her love a compass guiding her in the dark. Benjamin, under the sun, cultivates his dreams, his success a silent serenade to the love that still burns bright within him.

The words of her father echo in a young girl's head: Never want what you can never have. Born on the day of the Mexican Goddess of Grass, Malinalli, she takes that name until 1519 when she begins her new Christian life as Marina, one of twenty slaves given to Conquistador Hernán Cortés after he defeats the natives of Tabasco. Having been sold into slavery by a wicked stepfather, Malinalli has learned Mayan as well as her native tongue Nahuatl. When Cortés discovers she can speak two languages, he makes her his interpreter and keeps her constantly at his side. His soldiers admire her and give her the respectful title of Don?a Marina (Lady Marina). Later, as she learns Spanish and becomes trilingual, she helps Cortés form alliances among Nahuatl speakers who hate Moctezuma II, a tyrant who has waged wars on neighboring tribes to obtain captives for human sacrifice. Cortés and his coalition of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors lead a fierce attack upon the Aztec empire, conquer Moctezuma II, and thus change the fate of Mexico and Spain forever. Although Cortés comes to love Marina, and she brings out his best qualities, he allows her to marry a hidalgo lover for her future protection. Yet Cortés and Malinalli (also called La Malinche) become a team that rebuilds a devastated nation, shapes its Christian destiny, and leaves a proud legacy for two nations that enriched each other even as they tried to destroy each other.