A remarkable life in song honored in prose.
Stardom did not come easily for Ella Fitzgerald.
Richards delivers a straightforward yet heartbreaking fictional account of the difficult years Fitzgerald endured prior to her discovery, and ultimate success, as one of the most popular and recognizable voices of the 20th century. She spent her early years in Yonkers, New York, intent upon perfecting—and becoming known for—her dance skills. When the Great Depression puts her family in a precarious financial situation, 15-year-old Ella rebels against the limits placed on her freedom to pursue her choreographic dreams, but the death of her mother kickstarts a series of awful events that test her determination and perseverance. After escaping the abusive and sexually predatory behavior of her stepfather, Ella seeks refuge with an aunt who lives in Harlem. Her journey through the next years is marked by poverty and frustration as well as casual and brutally intentional racism…and a growing self-realization that song is the force that sustains her through life’s hardest times. Jobs in Harlem’s bustling underground economy provide Ella with money, street smarts, and shelter, but truancy and implication as a witness in a mob killing provide her with a trip to a New York State reform “school” for girls. Richards’ chronicle of the torture and abuse meted out to the institution’s residents—to young Black women in particular—is revelatory and places Ella’s eventual triumphs in a larger context. Richards, herself a former backup singer for Whitney Houston, provides an extensive list of resources she consulted in piecing together Fitzgerald’s early life. Scenes ranging from street-corner dancing, ballroom routines, numbers running, and life in a Depression-era Hooverville make it easy to envision a movie treatment for this deep dive into the forces shaping an extraordinary talent.
A remarkable life in song honored in prose.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780063338654
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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