Brown Paper Bag, a Novel

A Book Club Favorite!

From sin, abuse and abandonment to repentance, recovery and redemption

Worlds collide when Georgia transplant Natalie Jordan, a statuesque mahogany beauty and fair skinned, wavy haired Louisiana native Gregory Baptiste fall in love and begin to make wedding plans.

Gregory's mother, Albertina, makes no apologies for doing "whatever it takes" to make certain that her family's bourgeois social status and "bloodline" remain intact. The couple falls prey to a cruel scheme that is meticulously devised and executed by members of the Baptiste family.

After her husband is viciously murdered, secondary character Bernadette Mitchell flees the rural south with her young son in tow.  Not long after settling in Detroit, she becomes involved in an affair with Bill Robinson, a prominent (married) pediatrician who offers to provide for them. Hopeful that she will someday replace Bill's wife, she suffers the unimaginable consequences of being a kept woman.  The man of her dreams turns out to be her worst nightmare.

 Set in post World War II Detroit, Michigan, Brown Paper Bag depicts a nuanced mind set among some within the African American culture that dates back to the times of slavery; but exists even today.

More than a commentary on skin color, Brown Paper Bag boldly tells the truth about the affects of toxic relationships and the redemptive, restoring and affirming power of true love, God's love.

About the Author

In her books, blogs and workshops, Venus Mason Theus candidly uses her personal successes and failures to address relationship concerns of wives, brides-to-be and even those who have marriage on their “to-do list.” 

She is the president of the American Christian writers – Detroit chapter and the founder of the Anointed Pen Christian Writers Conferences and Workshops. She is also the author of Pearls of Wisdom for Wives: How to Have a Joyfully Ever After Marriage and the founder of the Wisdom4Wives organization.

Venus has been joyfully married for 26 years and lives in Michigan with her family.