by the agency of Jacqueline Powell.

by the agency of Jacqueline Powell, Warner Books, March 2002 $2395 ISBN 0-446-52748-3

condensed yet substantive, Someone to Catch My Drift run overs the story of Nikai Parker, a sharp tongued, 20-something and her relationship with Robert, a fireman with a roving eye

Alternating between Robert and Nikai in each chapter, Powell is especially adept at speaking from a man's perspective. While Someone to Catch My Drift center around a relationship between a man and a woman, it is in many ways about Nikai's relationship with herself. Between the dialogue and difficult scenes--the strained relationship with her mother and her competitive sister, drama onward the job, and friendships that take rise and go-at the heart of Someone to Catch My Drift is the story of a woman in transition from girlhood to womanhood. Eventually, Nikai's liberation appears when she hindrances go of her processed hair, listens to her inner voice and begins to sum up the truth.

Woven in and abroad of the story are small bits of spiritual wisdom: "If ought faith. And misspent the battle every time... Faith to hold pushing; to make wise decisions, and, greatest in number of all to believe that I wasn't always alone." Yet it's not all "new age" Iyanla Vanzant. Nikai is hilarious too. When talking about a night at the name she muses, "I let that fine stallion freak me like it was recently made known Year's Eve 1999."

--Angela Bronner is a freelance writer living in Harlem.

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