Leaving Cecil Street - Hardcover

Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786267909 ISBN 13: 9780786267903

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004

Synopsis

A Blackboard Bestselling Author

It is 1969 and Cecil Street is feeling "some kind of way," so the residents decide to have two block parties this year - energetic, sensual celebrations that serve as backdrops to their stories. Among them are Joe, a long-ago sax player who has turned his eye across the street to a newly arrived young southern beauty, and his wife, Louise, who senses that Joe's attention has wandered. As the first block party ends, a naked woman secretly takes up residence in Joe and Louise's cellar - and the stories begin.

About this title

About the Author:

The author of the critically acclaimed novels Tumbling, Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight, Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award for Fiction, which she won twice. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband. For more on Diane McKinney-Whetstone please visit www.mckinney-whetstone.com or follow her on Twitter @Dianemckwh.

From Publishers Weekly:

Wistful, melodious, contemplative, McKinney-Whetstone's prose feels inspired by the tenor sax central to this story. It's the summer of 1969 on Cecil Street in West Philadelphia, and "even though the block had long ago made the transition from white to colored to Negro to Black is Beautiful, the city still provided street cleaning twice a week in the summer when the children took to the outside and there was the familiar smack, smack of the double-Dutch rope." Neet and Shay, 17-year-old neighbors, are as close as that double rope, and when Neet's illegal abortion goes terribly wrong, Shay is distraughtâ€"especially since the procedure had been her idea. Shay's father, Joe, offers tender, paternal wisdom: "Be sad 'cause your best friend is going through a trauma right now, that's a clean, honest sadness. Don't dirty it up with a bunch of guilt that you choosing to feel." Dealing with his own sadness and guilt is harder. Joe loves his wife, Louise, but giving up the sax soon after they married turned out to be a bigger sacrifice than he realized, and getting straight with himself is a moral, sexual, musical adventure. McKinney-Whetstone's fourth novel (after 1999's Blues Dancing) is remarkable for the rich development of all its characters, notably Neet's mother, Alberta. She first appears as a bleak woman who torments Neet with a cruel religiosity, but her backstory of forced prostitution reveals more about her; her final sacrifice redeems her. Meanwhile, Deucie, the mother who abandoned Alberta, has sneaked into Joe and Louise's cellar to die. Joe plays his sax, harmoniously connecting and resolving the separate story lines.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786267909
• ISBN 13: 9780786267903
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 429