|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster
Kaye Gibbons
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
 |
|
9780151012046 Hardcover
0151012040
$23.00
224pages
Available
Trim Size:
5-5/16 x 8
Copyright Year:
2005
Territory:
US, C, O
|
Read an Excerpt
Reading Guide
|
 |
Synopsis |
 |
This sequel to Gibbons's beloved classic Ellen Foster stands on its own as an unforgettable portrait of a redoubtable adolescent making herself up out of whole cloth. Now fifteen, Ellen is settled into a permanent home with a new mother. Strengthened by adversity and blessed with enough intelligence to design a salvation for herself, she still feels ill at ease in the world. Her sole surviving ritual-a visit to the county fair-takes on totemic importance. While she holds fast to the shreds of her childhood-humoring her best friend, Stuart, who is determined to marry her; and protecting her old neighbor, slow-witted Starletta-she negotiates her way into a larger world by selling her poetry to pay her way to a camp for gifted students. With a singular mix of perspicacity, naïveté, and compassion, Ellen draws us into her life and makes us fall in love with her all over again.
Anyone considering making an underage change in life, such
as who you're going to live with, should know there's no way to
avoid the government getting in on the decision, so try to be
kind to the lady they'll send with a stack of tests. Try to stay
calm and do your best on them.
-from The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster
|
|
Praise |
|
"Ellen’s character and voice are the masterful writing of a strong spirit."
The State,1/8/2006
"Ellen maintains a hold on us, especially when she remembers to laugh at herself, and certainly at the novel's end, when she discovers psychiatric reports about her mother's last year. These pages, though perhaps the most sensational of her story, achieve a power accumulated over the course of two novels, through all of Ellen's suffering and longing for the severed maternal bond."
Washington Post,1/6/2006
"Most stunning about the Ellen Foster series is Gibbons' conversational language, a stream-of-'70s-consciousness.... Gibbons' deft juggling of such disparate elements is the reading equivalent of a really posh bed-in-a-bag ensemble -- which, as Gibbons points out, is something Ellen would love."
Lexington Herald-Leader,1/5/2006
"The novel's method of telling, in which Ellen herself is the story's landscape, is also its signal strength. As [Ellen] uses her considerable resources to move toward understanding--and to react, equally, to old losses and sudden good fortune--we're right there with her."
Chicago Tribune,1/8/2006
|
|
Biography |
|
KAYE GIBBONS is the author of seven bestselling novels. Her first novel, Ellen Foster, was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a special citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. That novel, as well as A Virtuous Woman, was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
|
|
General Subjects |
|
|
Academic Disciplines & Course Studies |
|
English Language & Literature- American Literature
|
|
Rights Details |
|
| Rights Sold: |
Audio and Large Print to Random House Audio/Large Print
Selection of three hardcover book clubs--THE LITERARY GUILD, THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB, and DOUBLEDAY BOOK CLUB
|
| Rights Holders: |
Second Serial/Reprint: Harcourt
First Serial/Performance/UK/Translation: Joy Harris Literary Agency
Audio: Random House Audio
|
Rights Information |
Harcourt Books
An imprint ofHarcourt Trade Publishers
A
Harcourt Education Company
|
