Synopsis
Noon and her husband Herbie find two girls on their doorstep--one an infant and the other a five-year-old. They keep the girls, who grow up loving one another like sisters, then splitting in a rivalry over a property developer and the prospect of having their neighborhood torn up by a freeway. Eventually they are reconciled by Ethel, a hell of a blues singer who seems to exist at the heart of everything the girls have been searching for.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1996-04-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 340 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 22.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
In her deeply textured debut novel, Diane McKinney-Whetstone evokes the feel and rhythm of a close-knit African-American community. Set in South Philadelphia during the 1940s and 1950s, Tumbling combines the mood of an urban community with the vitality of its inhabitants to tell a story in which sorrow and joy come in equal measure. One unconventional couple is at the heart of the novel; Herbie and Noon care deeply for each other but have been unable to consummate their marriage because of a vicious sexual attack in Noon's past. So, while Noon finds comfort and solace in her church, club-hopping Herbie finds friendship and sexual gratification with a jazz singer named Ethel. Unexpectedly, Herbie and Noon are blessed with daughters when, on two separate occasions, children are left on their doorstep. On the advice of the community, they take the children into their home, where the girls become inseparable, as if blood sisters. When a devastating city proposal threatens to put a road through the area, the community must pull together to avoid being torn apart. Noon becomes the unexpected leader in the struggle to keep both her home and her family whole.
Industry Reviews
"What a wonderful experience...to tumble into the world of Noon and her kin. A warm and wonderful debut."
Advertisement - Nikki Giovanni
"Despite some melodramatic coincidences, 'Tumbling' is an accomplished novel, with sharply drawn characters, exuberant prose, plenty of period detail and a wise, forgiving outlook on family life."
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Michael Harris (11/03/1996)
"McKinney-Whetsone convincingly presents the community's fight for self-determination as the outward manifestation of the psychic struggle of African American's during a period of tremendous social and cultural turmoil. A gifted prose writer with a tremendous sense of place, McKinney-Whetstone shows the potential here to move up the ranks of novelists currently exploring the African American experience."
Gordon
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