Anne is a child of the Sixties. She met her husband when she was 25 living in the East Village of NYC and he had just hitchhiked from California. He was 21. A few months later he moved in with her and they were together ever since, until he suddenly out of nowhere and for no reason went to Heaven in 2011.
But Anne had become New Age in Tucson. She actually does believe we are all eternal beings. And for Bill it is just a change of address.
So she held on to her happiness. It still means starting a brand new life as a bachelorette when it was the last thing she expected to happen.
She loved her husband and was a contented wife but this new life is thrilling.
Haboob is the tale of Anne's life during first 6 months of 2012. It is her second year of being on her own.
Her husband's friend is teaching her how to drive.
A wonderful friendship blossoms. There is no attraction, he goes for hot blonds. Anne's type is sensitive but misunderstood.
But they have so much fun together.
As Anne says, "It is a lot of fun to be friends with a boy who is just a friend and not a boyfriend. Because of the freedom. It's fun to feel so free. And so relaxed."
A lot of the book is fun and funny, but there are some deep parts too. Anne's chapter, "My Mother and Me" is very revealing about a mother daughter relationship.
Anne shares both her inner and outer experiences. And a reader may enjoy her conversations with her Higher Self.
Her husband's cartoons are fun, funny, interesting. They are lively and somewhat sexy. The cover painting is by him.
A haboob (Arabic for strong wind) is a type of intense dust storm. They take place in Africa and one arrived in Tucson March 2012 in the middle of Anne's novel.
About the Author: Anne is a native New Yorker now living in Tucson Arizona. She grew up in Flushing Queens.
She moved to the East Village of Manhattan in 1966. A few month later the Sixties began there. As Anne says, "I took to it like a duck to water. It fitted my soul."
In 1967 the Women's Liberation Movement started in the East Village. It had only been going for 2 months when Anne went to her first meeting. She went out of curiosity and was instantly converted at her first meeting.
In 2010 her husband urged her to write about it. He said, "Everyone is interested in how women's liberation started. You were there. It is real history."
So she wrote and published, Not what you'd expect. How the women's liberation movement started: My personal experience.
She met her husband Bill in 1970. He was working at the Paradox, a hippy restaurant in the East Village. He had just arrived from California.
She was off for the summer from school teaching and hung out there.
He moved in with her soon after, and when school teaching promptly fell apart for her, he suggested she become a writer. He would support her.
He was only earning $96/week as Wall Street messenger and going to school at night, but Anne accepted his generous offer.
She decided to give writing a whirl. And to her amazement and joy, it worked. She has been writing ever since.
In Thanksgiving 1991, when their life in NYC collapsed, they moved to Tucson Arizona with their dog.
Anne fell in love with the desert and is happy in Tucson. She loves the bright sun, the blue sky, and the birds singing to you year round.
Tucson has outside swim pools open year round. Heated in winter. Anne loves to swim and is overjoyed to swim under the blue sky and sunshine. She swims every day in every weather. For the joy of it.
In 2008 she discovered self publishing. It does not cost the writer anything if she is willing to do all the work herself. Haboob is now the 5th novel Anne has published.
Anne says, "It is God's gift to writers that we can now publish our own books." She is very grateful.
