Title: A Victim of Her Own Paranoia

Author: Tina Brown

Reviewer: Barbara Nelson

Edith Callimore Brown has published her first book, A Victim of Her Own Paranoia, under the nom de plume 'Tina Brown'. It was published in the United States by Xlibris Corporation in August 2008.

The plot of the short story is relatively straightforward - Tenika Teckloth, an attractive, intelligent, Jamaican-born woman, and Runikee Michaelson, a Miami-based businessman, who is founder and owner of one of the largest advertising agencies there, fall in love with each other.

On her way home to tell her lover that she is two months pregnant with their child, Tenika saw something that "caused her whole world to go blank" and convinced her that Runikee was cheating on her, that he had betrayed her.

family reunion

Tenika returns to Jamaica and reunites with family and friends and picks up her life as an airline stewardess and English teacher at a university.

Five years later, Runikee comes to Jamaica to find out why Tenika had left him so suddenly and to try to win her love again.

Brown, an accounting clerk by profession, says she has always wanted to write. "In fact, in high school, she spent most of her time concentrating on writing than anything else." Like many aspiring writers, however, she makes the mistake of not having an editor.

Thus, there are a number of situations described in the story and many grammatical errors that would not have escaped the critical and experienced eye of an editor. For example, Tenika and Catherine arbitrarily decide not to go to work (as airline stewardesses) because of heavy rain. "When I got the call this morning, I wondered whether these people were off their rockers to expect anyone to be out today," says Catherine.

rough edges

During a storm that affected Jamaica, "a three-year-old boy sustained injuries when his roof caved in."

Tenika lived in a house on Roehampton Drive in Meadowbrook in which there was a "whatnot decorated with lots of figurine" and a kitchen with shelves stocked with tin food.

A reader may wonder where a helicopter could possibly land in Meadowbrook to pick up Tenika to go on a date.

On yet another page Clive asks: "When did this headache started?"

Brown says she is working on other books and we wish her well. We would, however, encourage her to work in tandem with an editor who can help her to smooth the rough edges in her writing.