Briscoe, Connie 1952-

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BRISCOE, Connie 1952-

PERSONAL: Born December 31, 1952, in Washington, DC; daughter of Leroy Fabian and Alyce Levinia (Redmond) Briscoe; married, 1980 (marriage ended). Education: Hampton University, B.S., 1974; American University, M.P.A., 1978.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Doubleday, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Analytic Services Inc., Arlington, VA, research analyst, 1976-80; Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Washington, DC, associate editor, 1981-90; American Annals of the Deaf, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, managing editor, 1990-94; novelist, 1994—.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Sisters and Lovers, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Big Girls Don't Cry, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

A Long Way from Home, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

P. G. County, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Connie Briscoe is the author of novels focusing on the personal and professional struggles of middle-class African-American women in Washington, D.C. Briscoe's debut novel, Sisters and Lovers, centers on three women, each of whom has to resolve difficulties in her personal life. Thirty-year-old Beverly works as an editor, and as the novel opens she is reeling from the infidelity of her boyfriend. In the course of the novel she dates a series of unsuitable black men, eventually embarking on a doomed relationship with a white man. Her sister Charmaine is married to a charming but indolent liar whose debts mount while she works as a secretary to support the family. The third sister, Evelyn, a successful psychologist, is married to a lawyer who wants to give up his well-compensated position as a partner in a prominent law firm to start his own practice, a move which she fears will jeopardize their comfortable lifestyle.

Discussing Sisters and Lovers, Stephanie Goldberg of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Even though the tenor of this book is mostly comic, there are serious undertones." She noted that "Briscoe's women have abundant drive and determination" and concluded that Sisters and Lovers is "the perfect commentary on post-modern romance: In the '90s, the object isn't to be rescued by a handsome prince but merely to meet one's equal." In an assessment in Kirkus Reviews, a commentator described the book as "smoothly readable, but flat and uninventive," and compared it to Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale "without the sex, the sizzle, and the funky humor." Roz Spafford, in the Washington Post Book World, wrote that "more complexity in [Briscoe's] characters' evolution as well as in the structure of the book itself" was needed, but noted that "Briscoe's message is a warm one and the novel is entirely readable."

Big Girls Don't Cry, Briscoe's second novel, treats major issues of contemporary African-American history through the story of Naomi Jefferson, who is a middle-class, Washington, DC, adolescent as the novel opens in the early 1960s. Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement, Briscoe presents Naomi's coming-of-age while exploring such topics as radicalism, racism, sexism, teen pregnancy, and drug use. At school Naomi learns that it is preferable to date someone light-skinned, and her new friend, the light-skinned Jennifer snubs Naomi's best friend, Debbie, because her skin is too dark. Later, Naomi's older brother, Joshua, becomes involved in the radical protest movement while at college and is killed while en route to a rally. Naomi herself drops out of college after experiencing racial and gender discrimination in her technical curriculum and experiments with drugs in the aftermath of a failed romance. Eventually Naomi completes her education and wins a position with a prominent computer-consulting firm in Washington. However, she leaves to start her own business when it becomes apparent that her race and gender present insurmountable obstacles to climbing the corporate ladder in the white, male-dominated firm.

Emily Listfield observed in a Washington Post Book World review that in Briscoe's book "the recipe for success is simple, if not simplistic: Stop whining and start earning." Listfield concluded that "the obstacles that Naomi faces are genuine," but noted "they are drawn here with a sketchiness that undermines their impact." Listfield concluded that "Briscoe, a talented writer, is not afraid to take on serious concerns: racism, the glass ceiling, [and] the importance of personal responsibility." Corrine Nelson, in a favorable review in Library Journal, concluded, "This believable and wonderfully written novel is highly recommended for all fiction collections."

Briscoe reached farther back in time for her novel A Long Way from Home, based on three generations of her ancestry. The inspiration for the book, Briscoe told Essence, came from researching her family's slave background. "I came across the usual grim tales of whipping, sales and miscegenation," she remarked. "But I also uncovered stories of love and hope."

In antebellum Virginia, light-skinned slave Susan (Briscoe's great-great-grandmother) grows up on a plantation but is sold to a new master in big-city Richmond. She can pass for white there, and "although she is treated better," noted Library Journal contributor Catherine Swenson, "she is still unable to fulfill her own dreams." Susan falls in love with the freeman Oliver as talk of a Civil War looms. When the South surrenders in 1865, Susan is also granted freedom, and now embarks on a journey to locate the members of her fragmented family. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly found that "Briscoe's characters, especially Susan, are largely appealing, and the novel's extended chronology is informative." Harriet Klausner, in Under the Covers, praised A Long Way from Home as "another winning, gut-wrenching family drama."

Changing course, Briscoe produced a satire of contemporary African-American upper crust in P. G. County. "Remember Peyton Place? Dynasty? Now fast forward to 2002 and paint the characters black," remarked Robin Green-Cary in Black Issues Book Review. The five very different women living in up-scale Prince Georges County, Maryland, include Barbara, described by a Kirkus Reviews writer as "the alcoholic wife of a self-made millionaire," and Candice, a white woman whose son is dating the black daughter of hardworking hairdresser Pearl. Examining her family records on microfiche, Candice is shocked to discover an "old census record with a capital M on the line for race. As in mulatto." To Green-Cary, "readers will likely run out of angst over [Candice's] problems long before she does." That said, "P. G. County is thoroughly and delightfully enjoyable. Briscoe's quick wit and obvious love of language shine brightly in this twisted tale."

Briscoe, who gradually lost her hearing as an adult due to a genetic condition, discussed her career with Victoria Valentine in a May, 1996, interview conducted by TDD (a telecommunications relay system used by the hearing impaired) and published in Emerge. Briscoe revealed that Big Girls Don't Cry "was a little bit harder to write because I had to dig deeper.... Sisters was sort of out there on the surface. It almost wrote itself. It has a lot of me and some of my friends in it." She did not rule out a deaf character in a future work, noting "I'm still dealing with my feelings about it. So to write, I would have to work those feelings and thoughts out. Maybe once I do that, I will feel comfortable including a deaf character."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, September-October, 2002, Robin Green-Cary, review of P. G. County, p. 24.

Booklist, April 15, 1994, Denise Perry Donavin, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 1484; February 15, 2000, Deborah Taylor, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 1096; April 1, 2001, Brad Hooper, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 1456; August, 2002, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of P. G. County, p. 1883.

Bookwatch, May 1, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 11; April 28, 1996, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 11.

Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1994, Stephanie Goldberg, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 4.

Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 10.

Emerge, May, 1996, Victoria Valentine, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, pp. 66-67.

Entertainment Weekly, August 20, 1999, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 120.

Essence, July, 1999, Martha Souhtgate, "Speaking Volumes," p. 95.

Jet, September 5, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 24.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 227; March 1, 1996, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 310; May 15, 1999, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 739; July 1, 2002, review of P. G. County, p. 897.

Kliatt, March, 1995, p. 57.

Library Journal, April 1, 1994, Angela Washington-Blair, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 130; April 15, 1995, p. 144; June 1, 1996, Corrine Nelson, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, pp. 146, 148; February 15, 2000, Catherine Swenson, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 214; January 1, 2001, Nancy Pearl, "Waiting for Terry: African American Novels," p. 200; August, 2002, Jennifer Baker, review of P. G. County, p. 140.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, June 2, 1996, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 14; September 26, 1999, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 9.

Mademoiselle, May, 1994, Elizabeth Berg, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 102.

Newsweek, April 29, 1996, Malcolm Jones, Jr., review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 79.

New York Times, September 2, 1999, Felicia R. Lee, "A Novelist Fills in Slavery's Blanks with Imagination," p. B1.

New York Times Book Review, September 18, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 20.

People Weekly, June 10, 1996, Clare McHugh, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 37.

Publishers Weekly, March 28, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 81; June 20, 1994, Paul Nathan, "Three Lives," p. 28; March 11, 1996, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 41; July 26, 1999, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 65; August 26, 2002, review of P. G. County, p. 43.

School Library Journal, April, 2003, Joyce Fay Fletcher, review of P. G. County, p. 195.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), July 31, 1994, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 4; March 19, 1995, p. 8.

Washington Post Book World, May 1, 1994, Roz Spafford, review of Sisters and Lovers, p. 11; April 28, 1996, Emily Listfield, review of Big Girls Don't Cry, p. 11; August 15, 1999, review of A Long Way from Home, p. 6.