Asenath and the Origin of Nappy Hair: Being a Collection of Tales Gathered and Extracted from the Epic Stanzas of Asenath and Our Song of Songs

Volume 1 of the 2 volume novel Asenath and Our Song of Songs shares scenes from the life of Shirah Shulamit Ojero an African American Jewish girl and woman growing up in Washington DC. Shirah reexamines and affirms her Judaic ancestry becomes a graduate student studying epic poetry at the University of Pen Forest and in the process of writing her doctoral dissertation discovers that hair as nappy as hers has existed only once before - on the head of Ancient Egyptian Asenath. The entertwined stories of Shirah and Asenath becomes a quest for a book unknown in heaven and leads them through deserts mountains and many academic halls. The characters seek the book not only at the University of Pen Forest in Philadelphia but also at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC West Cambridge University in Cambridge Massachusetts and at the Library of Saïs in Egypt. Asenaths story is mentioned briefly in the Hebrew Bible also known as the Old Testament as well as in contemporary texts such as Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann. She is the daughter of the Egyptian priest Poti-pherah and eventually becomes the wife of Joseph in Egypt. Volume 2 of the novel focuses on the life of Asenath and her connection with Joseph Shirah the Pharaoh also known as the Directing Angel of the Center for Literary and Cultural Studies and the Pharaohs Companion Nefertha of BlackWomanSong also known as BeeJay Skerett the Angel who Knows the Difference.