Beginning with Cannonballs

Beginning with Cannonballs
Jill McCroskey Coupe
RRP:
NZ$ 38.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 33.14
Trade Paperback
h216 x 140mm - 232pg
11 Jun 2020 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781631528484
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
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?
"This lyric novel is a gorgeous mosaic, fragmented in a way that lets the reader into the gaps in order to complete the meaning, to connect the narrative dots. Beginning with Cannonballs reminds me of an Alice Munro story, one that looks at people' s lives over decades, like catching them in snapshots, so we can see how they relate to the people they once were. Jill McCroskey Coupe is one savvy, irresistible, and fearless writer. "-John Dufresne, author of I Don' t Like Where This Is Going "Beginning with Cannonballs spans fifty years in a poignant yet difficult friendship. Through each episode, each explosive cannonball, the novel takes an unstinting and courageous look at how societal forces can seek to destroy the truth that lies beneath the surface of our skin: that we are all sisters and brothers at heart. "-J. E. Irvin, author of The Dark End of the Rainbow and The Strange Disappearance of Rose Stone"Jill McCroskey Coupe' s compelling story of an unlikely friendship in the segregated South is unforgettable. Hanna and Gail' s struggle to defy the odds of racism and social status is truly one of hope. Such lovely and deft writing from a masterful storyteller. A must-read. "-Kim Bradley, short story writer and assistant professor of English at Flagler College"As little girls doing cannonballs off a diving board, Hanna and Gail produce big splashes. A number of minor characters, just by showing up, do the same. The ripple effects make this powerful and perceptive novel an engrossing read. "-Joan Zelinka, former medical social worker at Johns Hopkins Health System
Jill McCroskey Coupe' s first job was gathering (collating) in her father' s printing plant in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. A former librarian at Johns Hopkins University, she has an MFA in Fiction from Warren Wilson College, located in the heart of the Blue Ridge. The Southern Appalachians will always feel like home to her, but so does Baltimore, where she has lived for more than thirty years.
Status: No local stock, title imported to order
ISBN-13: 9781631528484
Published: 11 Jun 2020
Published In: United States
Imprint: She Writes Press
Publisher: She Writes Press
Format: Trade Paperback
Height: 216mm
Width: 140mm
Pages: 232

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