Beginning with Cannonballs
A Novel
by Jill McCroskey Coupe
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 26 2020 | Archive Date Apr 27 2020
Talking about this book? Use #BeginningwithCannonballs #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
“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?
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
“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, Flagler College
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781631528484 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 232 |
