Searching for Tina Turner by Jacqueline E. Luckett

Lena Spencer has it all.  Married to Randall, one of the few black CEO's of a major corporation, she has a lovely home, all the material possessions one could wish for, a son in college, a daughter about to graduate high school and a circle of friends who love her cooking and advice.

But that vision is on the outside looking in.  From the inside, Lena has reached age fifty-four and feels empty.  Her son has left college due to drug problems and her daughter rarely talks to her.  Her husband uses her as a tool to further his career, and her friends are fair-weather ones.  She feels as if she has nothing that is truly hers and that she has lost her dreams in the service of others.

Lena's dream is to operate a photography studio.  She's had a business plan for years, but has put off starting her business as her husband climbs ever higher in the corporate world.  Instead, she has helped him write speeches, strategized meetings, and served as his hostess.  He kept promising that her turn will come, but now that it's time, he still refuses to support her in finding her dream.

Desparate to carve out something for herself, Lena finds a biography of Tina Turner.  Reading how Tina left her husband at age forty-five and went on to become a bigger musical star without him gives Lena the courage to insist on her plans.  When Randall won't help, she moves out and takes the steps necessary to make her dreams a reality.

This book is recommended for all readers.  Jacqueline Luckett has captured the feeling of imprisonment that many women face, along with the reality that they have given up what they wanted to help everyone they love find what is important to them.  This is an interesting debut novel.