Publicity department
Contact: Libby Blathers, senior publicist
Dear Seattle Weekly Editor:
Please find enclosed the advance galleys for the sure-fire summer hit Fair Trade, Fair Love by Abbey Cohen- Moonfeather, a contemporary romance novel set against the backdrop of Seattle’s history-making WTO conference and protests. Already being developed in Hollywood as a movie starring Brad Pitt, it’s an emotionally charged tour de force about two people caught on opposite sides of the trade debate—but united in love!
Thrill to the passion of Bryndice, a pert Nordstrom Junior Executive who’s caught unawares by the international trade controversy swirling around her. Marvel at the throbbing intensity of angry young WTO protester David “Wolf Who Rails at Injustice” (his name in Tagalog)—scion of a prominent Old Seattle banking family who’s dedicated himself to the cause of oppressed peoples everywhere (when he’s not training for the Olympic kayaking team).
Cast together by fate and high-level multinational trade agreements, these two become unwitting pawns of global macroeconomic forces that are ultimately trumped by the greater power of love!
Synopsis:
Bryndice has no idea that her life is about to change forever as she stops at an espresso cart in downtown Seattle on the morning of Tuesday, November 30, 1999, and catches the eye of David, waiting in line behind her. “Is that all you’re going tip the barista?” he inquires, his emerald eyes aflame with indignation. “Don’t you know those coffee beans were picked by Guatemalan peasants earning only pennies a day?”
“Just because I’m a natural blond doesn’t mean I don’t have a social conscience!” Bryndice wails, on the verge of tears. David is guilt-stricken and instantly smitten. Before he can console her, however, clouds of tear gas tear them asunder. “I won’t forget you!” he yells before he is swept into a maelstrom of pepper spray, rubber bullets, and sea-turtle costumes.
After reaching her Nordstrom office, in the heart of Seattle’s besieged retail core, Bryndice watches in horror as a gang of roving anarchists smashes the windows of her favorite Starbucks. As a bandanna slips to reveal one boyishly handsome face, she’s horrified to recognize David. But against the clamor she’s unable to hear him shout, “Stop! Violence is not the answer!”
Bryndice begins to question how globalization and the nefarious World Trade Organization will affect her life—and the fashion industry! “Maybe the garment workers of the world have a right to a living wage,” she tells a group of Nordstrom perfume spritzers. She’s interrupted in her tentative efforts at union organizing when David sprints past the store’s entrance, leading a phalanx of protestors. Before their eyes meet, she appraises his powerful legs and torso. Still suspicious that he may be linked to a violent, anti-Starbucks faction of anarchists, she calls out to him, “Wait, I never got your name!”
Lowering the megaphone from his lips, David calls to her across the din, “Wherever the poor oppressed indigenous peoples of this earth are liberated—that is my name! Wherever injustice is defeated—that is my name! Wherever multinational capitalism gives way to humane values of socialism, egalitarianism, and veganism—that is my name! Can we have dinner? Chez Shea?”
Before a lovestruck Bryndice can reply, David and his followers are swept away by riot police. David looks back helplessly at Bryndice, realizing he’s found his soulmate. But how can he explain about the broken Starbucks window? How can he prove his
nonviolent love to her? How can he keep his eyes from stinging?
Here’s a completely original tale of ardor and political outrage, told as only Abbey Cohen-Moonfeather can tell it. Discover for yourself the passion that’s kindled in this controversial, ripped-from-the-headlines romance. The universal search for love against all odds will thrill readers long after they put the book down.
Praise for ‘Fair Trade, Fair Love’:
“An inspiring saga of the revolution. And, I’ll admit, the love story moved me to tears.” —Subcomandante Marcos
“I disapprove of their behavior, but I’m a sucker for a good romance novel.”—Paul Schell
“Those bastards cost me my job!”—Norm Stamper
“He was from Mars, she was from Venus, and look at how well it turned out.”—Dr. John Gray
“An excellent example of couples learning to overcome communication difficulties—and tear gas.”— Jennifer James, PhD
About the author:
Abbey Cohen-Moonfeather is the recipient of the Guterson Foundation’s 2000 Eco-Amour Award and the 1997 Virgin Fellowship, granted by the Romance Writers Fund of Lake Minnetonka. Previous novels include: Cold Glacier, Blazing Passion; Love Amid the Old-Growth Cedar; Undammed River, Unchecked Passion; Love and Compost; and Spotted Owl, Sacred Love—all of which contain subtle themes of environmentalism and political consciousness. Her novels have been translated into Makah, Spanish, and Polish, with plans for French and Tlingit editions forthcoming from Skagit Books’ international imprint. Cohen-Moonfeather is available for interviews by phone or in person (ASL-proficient). She lives in a yurt on Shaw Island, Washington.
