Trading Dreams at Midnight
A Novel
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
From the author of Blues Dancing and Tumbling—a writer who “ought to be classified among the best of all contemporary fiction writers period” (Detroit Free Press)—comes a riveting novel about the desire for redemption and rebirth
Moving across moments in time, Trading Dreams tells the story of a woman and the grandmother she is deeply connected by love and terrible pain.
For years, 33-year-old Neena has waged a relentless search for Freeda, the mother who abandoned her 20 years ago. Neena supports herself by blackmailing married men, but when a stong goes wrong, she finds herself on the run, back to her younger sister, Tish, in Philadelphia. But returning brings terrible grief—and unexpected hope as Neena learns to face the past, her grandmother, and herself.
A settled church lady and gifted seamstress, Nan is devoted to her granddaughter, Tish, who is soon to become a mother herself. A vibrant, passionate woman, Nan worries that in some way she caused her daughter Freeda’s instability. Neena’s returning holds unexpected consequences for Nan, too, and eventually she must confront her denial and fears—about the past and the future.
In a style that has been characterized as “accessible Toni Morrison,” and “literary Terry McMillan,” Diane McKinney-Whetstone has crafted another powerful story of love, loss, community, and healing that captures what it means to be human.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McKinney-Whetstone weaves an intricate tapestry of love, pain and memory in her latest. Neena spends most of her adult life trying to track down her unstable, long-disappeared mother, Freeda, and funds her quest by blackmailing the married men she sleeps with. When a scam backfires in Chicago and Neena has to run for her life, she flees to hometown Philadelphia and discovers her sister, Tish, is in the hospital with a protracted pregnancy. Neena, not ready to face her grandmother Nan's rules and church-going ways, finds a flop and tries to keep her scam game going while revisiting the myriad disappointments and hurts caused by her mother's mental illness. But things get complicated when she meets Cliff, her latest mark. Meanwhile, Neena's friendship with street musician Bow Peep offers a chance at redemption, and Nan worries over her grandchildren and thinks back on Freeda's unstable father. Philly is as much a character as the women, and if all the picking at old wounds grows tiresome and predictable, Neena's dire straits are nicely handled and provide a pretty sharp hook.