by Len Lear

Every article in the Local is supposed to have a local angle, but there are exceptions to every rule. For example, when Ali Gorson-Marrow contacted me recently to propose an article, I immediately rejected it when I found out that Ali lives in Broomall, Delaware County (even though her twin sister, Stefanie, does attend Arcadia University in nearby Glenside).

But one of Ali’s more endearing traits is persistence. She had been calling one newspaper after another, despite all rejections or failure to even return her calls. But the more I learned, the more I realized there was a compelling story here. For example, how many 18-year-olds do you know who authored a book during their freshman year at college (Goucher College in Baltimore) in addition to carrying a full load of courses with all of the required final exams, term papers, etc.?

Then there is the fact that Ali has a co-author, Takunda Keith Mahachi, 20, a fellow Goucher student who comes from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) in southern Africa. The title of the book is “The Castles of the Great Assimil Unearthed,” and the publisher producing the book is Telemachus Press. “They have been a fantastic publishing company,” said Ali. “They answer my frantic emails quickly, and they have been extremely supportive. The book will be ready some time in late August or early September. The plan is for the ebook to cost $5 to $10.”

Keith came up many of the ideas for the book, which is about an African boy living in poverty with his mother and siblings. The family struggles for the minor things in life, but the main character, Assimil, is determined to get a better life for his family. The reader follows Assimil through his ups and downs as he slowly makes his way to America.

“Our ultimate hope for the book,” said Ali. “is to spread awareness about families in poverty and the struggle of the African people. We want our book to give African people a voice and give people the belief that they can do anything they work hard enough at.

“It is definitely a huge challenge for two people to write a book! Keith and I worked for months to come up with a main story line and actually agree on each detail of the book. Our process when writing the book would be first to make a bullet point list of all our ideas. Then we went through each chapter slowly and carefully to ensure we included each detail we felt was needed. Our work consisted of many brilliant ideas from Keith, with me actually putting those ideas onto paper.”

Another element of the book which convinced me to eschew the “local angle” mantra is a mentally handicapped character who is based on Ali’s real-life sister (other than her twin), Julie, who died 15 years ago at the age of 5 of Rett syndrome. “It was truly a hard thing for me to handle and understand,” said Ali. “My family and I love and miss her everyday.”

(Ed. Note: Rett syndrome is a very rare genetic disease that affects girls almost exclusively. Only about one in 10,000 to 15,000 girls will develop the condition. A slowing of head growth and loss of muscle tone are initial symptoms, as well as uncoordinated breathing and seizures. Most children with Rett syndrome have a mutation in a particular gene on the X chromosome. There is no cure.)

Stefanie, who is majoring in Graphic Design at Arcadia, designed the cover of her sister's new book. Both twins attended Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy (formerly Akiba) in Bryn Mawr for four years. “Although we are extremely close,” Ali explained, “we decided to attend different schools because of our differing interests.

“It was not easy to write a book while studying for finals, completing homework assignments and writing papers! The way we were able to do it was by staying up late at night to continue writing or neglecting some of our leisure time to instead sit down and write, write, write!”

Ali, who is hoping to pursue a career in marketing or communications, and Keith, who hopes to pursue a career in medicine, are already considering ideas for future collaborative novels. “I spend a ton of time on social media these days!” said Ali. “I used to spend basically an average amount of time on social media — or possibly below average — before I started working on this book. Now I am marketing our novel every day on it.

“Sometimes it feels like I am drowning in Facebook pages, websites, Twitter posts, emails and phone calls! I spend a good four hours each day marketing our novel, but it's all worth it! The best advice I ever received was to realize that the road to success is paved with failures. The most successful people are the ones who may have also failed the most.

“It's easy to be disappointed in this process when you contact newspapers and do not get many responses. However, I've learned that if people aren't responding, I will just nag, nag, nag them until they finally pay attention to poor little me!”

For more information, contact aligm918@gmail.com or www.takundakeithandali.com.