Publisher Description
One woman's fight to provide hope for the hopeless…
Seven ex-cons who changed her heart forever…
For Brenda Spahn, entrepreneur and businesswoman, wealth was a lifestyle—until a brush with the law threatened to send her to prison. In those dark moments, Brenda made a promise to God.
Spared incarceration, a renewed Brenda glimpsed into the lives of women serving time in one of the worst places in America—the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama. What she saw prompted a God-inspired vision.
With a heart to help and a will that couldn't be crushed, Brenda fought the system and overcame tremendous obstacles to take ex-cons into her home and help them navigate the alien world of life on the outside.
This is the story of Brenda's journey from rags to riches to redemption. It's the story of the first unlikely year of her "Whole Way House" and of the extraordinary lives of the first seven women who came to call her "Miss Brenda." It's a story that testifies to the power of faith and how God changes hearts every day.
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About the Authors
Brenda Spahn is founder and executive director
of the Lovelady Center, the largest and most successful nonprofit transitional
center for women in the country. It serves 450 women and children every day,
providing substance-abuse counseling, drug rehabilitation, meals, childcare,
career counseling, and job opportunities to women working to establish
successful lives outside of prison walls. Brenda is married and has five
children.
Irene Zutell is the author of the critically
acclaimed novel Pieces of Happily Ever After and coauthor with
Vanessa Williams of You Have No Idea.
About the Narrators
Pam Ward, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, found her true calling reading books for the blind and physically handicapped for the Library of Congress’ Talking Books program. The fact that she can work with Blackstone Audio from the beauty of the mountains of Southern Oregon is an unexpected bonus.
Bahni Turpin, winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several prestigious Audie Awards for her narrations, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. Publishers Weekly magazine named her Narrator of the Year for 2016. She is an ensemble member of the Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles. She has guest starred in many television series, including NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Six Feet Under, Cold Case, What about Brian, and The Comeback. Film credits include Brokedown Palace, Crossroads, and Daughters of the Dust. She is also a member of the recording cast of The Help, which won numerous awards.
Johanna Parker is an Audie and Earphone Award–winning actress living and working in
San Francisco. Since narrating her first audiobook in 2002, she has received praise for her work in all genres, including her portrayal of Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire
books. She received her BFA in acting from Boston University and studied
Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She has performed
on stages in London, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York and has numerous film
and television credits. As a voice-over actress, she has
voiced commercials, video games, documentaries, and websites.
Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.