I was reading Great Expectations the other day – my son has to read it for English and I thought I might be able to help him understand it since, being brought up in South Carolina, the Dickensian world of Pip and Stella is a bit of a stretch for him. I came across a quote and since this might be my only opportunity to link my work – albeit very tenuously – with the great Charles Dickens, I think I’m shamelessly going to take it.
‘That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.’
I did pause when I read it and remembered the first day I walked into the Imago Hair Salon and met Lee Brittain. We hit it off immediately. He quickly shared with me that he was an Anglophile and knew all the British sit-coms that I liked to watch. That was over ten years ago and we have been BFFs ever since. Anyone reading Wed, White & Blue who is lucky enough to know Lee, will easily recognize the inspiration for the main character Sterling Johnson. You couldn’t make him up, but I have, though he wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t met Lee.
There is one more quotation I’d like to pull out in reference to the book. It’s not high-brow like the Dickens one, but it is equally relevant. I wish I could remember the actress who said it, while being interviewed on a morning TV show. I can’t, but I remember what she said. “My mother always told me that not everything is for everybody dear, because if it was, everyone would be married to your father.”
This book is not for everyone – Great Expectations isn’t either. My advice is to judge this book by the cover and if you like that, then there’s a good chance that Wed, White & Blue might be a book for you.
