River, Cross My Heart
A NovelFull Description
Five-year-old Clara Bynum is dead, drowned in the Potomac River in the shadow of a seemingly haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters. River, Cross My Heart, which marks the debut of a wonderfully gifted new storyteller, weighs the effect of Clara's absence on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city, to which they have moved in search of a better life for themselves and their children; the friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially, Clara's sister, ten-year-old Johnnie Mae, who must come to terms with the powerful and confused emotions stirred by her sister's death as she struggles to decide what kind of woman she will become. ... more
Audio and Video
Critical Praise
"A sweet read...sweet like homemade ice cream from a hand-cranked machine, and just as rich." --Holly Bass, Washington Post Book World
"A genuine masterpiece...full of grace and beauty and profound insights....It bears traces of Eudora Welty's charm and Toni Morrison's passion." --Michael Shelden, Baltimore Sun
"A warm, graceful first novel...with a host of well-drawn and appealing characters...Clarke brings an affectionate eye and beautifully restrained prose to her fictional archaeology." --John Perry, San Francisco Chronicle
"Seldom do I find a novel that I can recommend to everyone....I'm delighted to say that River, Cross My Heart fills the bill." --Sandra Scofield, Chicago, Tribune
"A compelling novel...Clarke brings to life a whole neighborhood of vivid personalities." --Denise Kersten, USA Today
"A striking first novel....Clarke is a writer to watch, both for her brilliant use of language and her ambition in terms of subject. In her able hands, the Bynums are a family you won't soon forget." --Martha Southgate, Essence
"An accomplished first novel....The story of Johnnie Mae's eventual triumph--and of a city's grudging coming to terms with the hopes and dreams she typifies--flows quietly but carves deep channels in the reader's mind." --Walter Kirn, Time
"Compelling....At the same time that Clarke paints a picture of a life limited by segregation, she also provides a portrait of the rich relationships, familial and otherwise, that enrich the community from which the Bynums draw strength.... The narrative is given depth by its anatomy of a community tangibly and viscerally brought alive." --Jennifer Veech, Washington Times
"This River is powerful....Clarke's prose vibrates with the poetic authority of Toni Morrison." --V. R. Peterson, People
- Category:
- FICTION
- Format:
- TRADE PAPERBACK
- Publish Date:
- 10/1/1999
- Price:
- $14.99/$18.99
- ISBN:
- 9780316899987
- Pages:
- 256
- Size:
- 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"
