River, Cross My Heart
River, Cross My Heart, my debut novel, is a very personal narrative. It is based on my parents' recollections, especially my mother's, of growing up in the African American community of Georgetown, in what is now a very affluent neighborhood. Young Johnnie Mae Bynum, coming of age in the segregated, racially prejudicial Washington, D.C. of the early twentieth century, is coping with the drowning death of her younger sister, for which she feels responsible. Selected by Oprah's Book Club in November 1999, River, Cross My Heart was also named one of the essential books about Washington, D.C.
“River, Cross My Heart” is also a narrative of parental grief after the sudden tragic death of a child. This is a landscape that I know personally following the accidental death of my son. River, Cross My Heart weighs the effect of Clara Bynum'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, twelve-year-old Johnnie Mae, who must come to terms with the powerful and confusing emotions sparked by her sister's death as she struggles to decide and discover the kind of woman she will become.
"A compelling novel...Clarke brings to life a whole neighborhood of vivid personalities."--USA Today
"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
“This highly accomplished debut novel reverberates with ideas, impassioned lyricism, and poignant historical detail as it captures an essential and moving portrait of the Washington, DC community. A compelling novel...Clarke brings to life a whole neighborhood of vivid personalities."—USA Today
Read the eBook: https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/detail/95833075/
Listen to “River, Cross My Heart”, narrated by https://www.audible.com/pd/River-Cross-My-Heart-Audiobook/1980067015