Silver Sparrow
From the Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction, 2019
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4.1 • 135 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
*THE BESTSELLING RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK*
From the award-winning author of An American Marriage comes this breathtaking tale of a sisterhood defined by a father's secret, perfect for fans of Brit Bennett and Yaa Gyasi
'MY FATHER, JAMES WITHERSPOON, IS A BIGAMIST.'
SECRETS
Dana and Chaurisse are sisters who have never met. The only thing binding them together is the life-changing secret of their father's double life.
LIES
Only one of them knows the truth about James and his hidden family. When the girls do finally meet and become friends, the fragile promise that has kept his secrets safe for so long threatens to implode.
HOPE
This soulful story of friendship and sisterhood paints an unforgettable picture of the messy knots that bind families together, from the author of modern classic, An American Marriage.
AN OBSERVER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A GUARDIAN 'BEST BOOK OF 2020 TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS' * A BOOKSELLER SMALL PUBLISHERS 2020 TOP 20
'Do not miss this can’t-actually-stop-reading-it novel from the author of the Women's Prize for Fiction-winning An American Marriage.' Stylist
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This remarkable novel opens with an unforgettable statement: “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.” What follows is a compelling story of families, friendship and sisterhood, told from the perspective of two young girls who ‘share’ a father but have different mothers and lives. Like her 2018 prize-winning novel, An American Marriage–which is a nuanced depiction of a relationship following an unjust incarceration, Tayari Jones again creates a striking cast of complex characters and paints a vivid picture of daily life in Atlanta, Georgia. Jones’ ability to expertly capture the authenticity of subtle human emotions ensures this is a deeply moving novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A coming-of-age story of sorts, Jones's melodramatic latest (after The Untelling) chronicles the not-quite-parallel lives of Dana Lynn Yarboro and Bunny Chaurisse Witherspoon in 1980s Atlanta. Both girls born four months apart are the daughters of James Witherspoon, a secret bigamist, but only Dana and her mother, Gwen, are aware of his double life. This, Dana surmises, confers "one peculiar advantage" to her and Gwen over James's other family, with whom he lives full time, though such knowledge is small comfort in the face of all their disadvantages. Perpetually feeling second best, 15-year-old Dana takes up with an older boy whose treatment of her only confirms her worst expectations about men. Meanwhile, Chaurisse enjoys the easy, uncomplicated comforts of family, and though James has done his utmost to ensure his daughters' paths never cross, the girls, of course, meet, and their friendship sets their worlds toward inevitable (and predictable) collision. Set on its forced trajectory, the novel piles revelation on revelation, growing increasingly histrionic and less believable. For all its concern with the mysteries of the human heart, the book has little to say about the vagaries of what motivates us to love and lie and betray.
