Adversity Is Temporary

Adversity Is Temporary is an absorbing, tell-all memoir by Norman Henry, a real-life rags-to-riches survivor. The book provides an up-close view of life on a Guyana sugar plantation and carries readers along on his harrowing journey to success and self-regard. The mixed-race child of an East Indian indentured servant mother and a father born of enslaved Africans in South America, Henry s formative years were an ordeal. He and his mother were victims of discrimination and persecution while also enduring the hardships of abject poverty. Fortunately, his touching and at times brutal story is buoyed by belly laughs. Determined to somehow earn a living for the family, young Henry worked in the cane fields, as a freelance butcher, and at other jobs, before besting stiff competition to be chosen for the British Guiana Police Force. Henry recounts his hilarious and eye-opening culture-shock at leaving the plantation to live in the big city. He also provides an interesting overview of training and serving on the force before his devastating departure. Forced to invent himself several times over, Henry went to the United States in search of education and opportunity. His resources and faith were tested in the coming years of sacrifice, peril, joy and triumph. He prevailed through his wavering commitment to hard work and a single-minded quest that cost him dearly while rewarding him handsomely. He d earned advanced degrees, work as a Certified Public Accountant, open his own successful accounting firm and experience both great failure and great gain with real-estate ventures. The boy that once worked the fields in Guyana would grow up to host two of its presidents at his banquet hall in Brooklyn. He d eventually meet the president of the United States, cabinet members and iconic arts and entertainment figures and come to the aid of those less fortunate, both back home and in his adopted land. Although Henry takes pride and joy in being regarded as a visionary entrepreneur, he looks back past the financial and social success to ponder the path taken and the lessons learned. He hopes to share whatever inspiration and perspective readers can gain from his candor. His story is told in a handsome book complete with full-color, black-and-white and sepia photographs. It is nineteen chapters and 192 pages long with a foreword, introduction and mementos. Adversity Is Temporary has a present-day photo of the author on its glossy, red white and gold cover. There is a vintage photo on the back along with an endorsement from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.