IN SEARCH OF SATISFACTION by J. California Cooper is an old-fashioned morality tale.

This story unfolds in Yoville, "a legal township founded by the very rich for their own personal use," whose beguiling history is inextricably linked to one man, a freed slave name Josephus, and his two daughters. Ruth is born to a hard-working mother and seems destined for a life of material poverty enriched by family. Yinyang, Josephus's daughter by the alcoholic mistress of the manse, weaves in and out of spiritual awareness, alternately deceiving and being deceived by those who need her. In seeking the legacy left by their father, Ruth and Yinyang pull each other, their families, and their Yoville neighbors into a vortex of ever-powerful emotion.

J. California Cooper is the author of several novels, plays, and collections of short stories. She was the winner of the 1989 American Book Award. She has also won the Black Playwright of the Year (1978), the James Baldwin Writing Award (1988) and the Literary Lion Award from the American Library Association (1988).

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