The Revelation of Dionne Daphne
A Novel
-
-
4.6 • 76 Ratings
-
-
- $1.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Mara Brock Akil, the award-winning creator of Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, Love Is, and Forever, pens an emotionally enthralling debut novel about enduring love, world-shattering secrets, and self-awakening.
What happens when one knock at your door sends your entire world into chaos? When a stranger becomes a lifeline? When the reality you’ve meticulously curated seems to be a mirage?
From the outside looking in, one might say that Dionne Daphne had it all: being the beauty editor at a prestigious New York magazine, a boyfriend who could have been plucked out of its model pages, the social life of the upper echelon, and a girlhood steeped in debutant balls.
But that is from the outside. When the now ex-boyfriend arrives at her Brooklyn doorstep Dionne imagines reconciliation, going back to the good life brimming with the possibility of marriage; the life her mother always wanted for her. Instead, he delivers life-threatening news that creates a crack in her picture-perfect world. A crack that grows legs and runs her right into her past, unearthing a secret that she has hidden since childhood.
In an effort to run toward the truth and away from a lie, Dionne sets out on a spur-of-the-moment road trip with an unlikely stranger to confront the long-buried darkness of her past and the family who made it so. As Dionne comes to a final reckoning, she begins to unravel new layers of herself and fresh possibilities for her life, her family, and even her love.
The Revelation of Dionne Daphne is at once a deeply moving and provocatively gripping novel that shows when you dig deep enough into the shadows of your life, light can be revealed. It’s a novel of broken lovers, a fractured family, and distant friendships all making their way back to one another.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A woman embarks on a journey to finally confront the pain she’s long kept buried in this debut novel from screenwriter Mara Brock Akil. It’s 1991, and Dionne has all the outward signs of a perfect life, from her top-tier education at Columbia to her enviable position as a beauty editor at Essence magazine. But when an ex-boyfriend informs her that she should get herself tested for HIV, the shock prompts a lifetime of repression to finally give way. With 14 days until her test results arrive, Dionne embarks on a heartachingly dramatic road trip to face all her past traumas—including the deepest one of all, her abusive stepfather. Akil, the creator of TV series like Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, and Forever, does a fabulous job of showing us how all of those life experiences manifest for Dionne, despite her expert masking. (She keeps everyone in her life at arm’s length, even her closest friend.) Beautifully written and emotionally captivating, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne is a poignant and inspiring read.
Customer Reviews
Amazing read!
Wow! This was such a moving read. Sometimes u have to revisit your trauma and confront it in order to live a free life!!! Great story.
I need more
This was a really great read, emotional, heavy, and heartwarming all at the same time. I literally felt like I was on a rollercoaster with how I was feeling while reading this one. But I wanted more, I felt like the ending was so unresolved and after taking the reader through such heaviness to rush it at the end felt like a let down. Maybe the intention was for us to make our own judgment? I don’t know, but overall it was still a good read. I highly recommend it.
A Wonderful “Salve” Story
The writing is so good and deep and layered and honest. The examination of a hurtful past and a striving, to as Dionne puts it, “resurrection”. A must read.