In this courageous story of growing up in one of the poorest areas of Jamaica, Ava Brown learned the life lessons of perseverance and survival. From a young age, Ava's self-taught belief that she was destined for more then the community's recreational activities of sex, raising babies and going to the farm gave her the courage to forge a very different path than the one expected of her. Her story starts in a poor rural area, where the need to find food often won out over school attendance, and follows her journey through her adolescent years, which were encased in the dark shadows of incest and sexual abuse, to her young adult years when the event of being held at gunpoint finally led her to flee her home country in order to save her sanity.Yet, her resilience and love for her native country allowed her to see all of her harsh and disappointing experiences as stepping stones to becoming a strong and self-reliant woman, one who is capable of helping our society to break the cycle of poverty and its effects. We welcome you to share in Ava's journey through her book, Bamboo & Fern. Using the metaphor of the bamboo, her childhood experiences gave her strong roots to grow but made her tough and bendable like the bamboo plant, she is also like a fern, vulnerable but with a huge capacity for survival. You will experience her triumphs, setbacks and trials. Bamboo & Fern will break your heart, before it makes you smile. Be prepared for a rollercoaster ride that breaks hearts, will undoubtedly motivate, Inspire and fuel the desire for change.