" . . . both timely and timeless in today's fraught social climate." ?Necessary Fiction
"This lyric novel is a gorgeous mosaic." ?John Dufresne
The award-winning author of True Stories at the Smoky View is back with another novel about an unusual friendship. In the 1940s, in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee, Gail (white) and Hanna (black) shared a crib in Gail's parents' house, where Hanna's mother, Sophie, was the live-in maid. When the girls were four, Sophie taught them to swim, and soon they were gleefully doing cannonballs off the diving board, playing a game they'd invented based on their favorite Billie Holiday song.
By the time they're both in college, however, the two friends have lost touch with each other. A reunion in Washington, DC, sought by Gail but resented by Hanna, sets the tone for their relationship from then on. Marriage, children, and a tragic death further strain the increasingly fragile bond. How much longer can the friendship last?
Autorentext
Award-winning author Jill McCroskey Coupe's novels, Beginning with Cannonballs (2020) and True Stories at the Smoky View (2016), depict unlikely friendships and have been reviewed in such disparate sources as Library Journal, Booklist, Necessary Fiction, and Smoky Mountain Living. Her master's degrees—an MFA in Fiction and an MLS (Library Science)—are dead giveaways: she has always loved books. A former librarian at Johns Hopkins University, Jill recently moved from Maryland to Vermont. Please visit her online at jillmcoupe.com
Klappentext
" . . . both timely and timeless in today's fraught social climate." -Necessary Fiction
"This lyric novel is a gorgeous mosaic." -John Dufresne
The award-winning author of True Stories at the Smoky View is back with another novel about an unusual friendship. In the 1940s, in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee, Gail (white) and Hanna (black) shared a crib in Gail's parents' house, where Hanna's mother, Sophie, was the live-in maid. When the girls were four, Sophie taught them to swim, and soon they were gleefully doing cannonballs off the diving board, playing a game they'd invented based on their favorite Billie Holiday song.
By the time they're both in college, however, the two friends have lost touch with each other. A reunion in Washington, DC, sought by Gail but resented by Hanna, sets the tone for their relationship from then on. Marriage, children, and a tragic death further strain the increasingly fragile bond. How much longer can the friendship last?