Lamia is fast becoming a treasure to the audiobook world-her reading of The Secret Life of Bees earned her an Audie nomination. Lamia's performance of Reynolds's novel is a thing of beauty, pitch perfect and dead on. The story of 14-year-old Tessa Lee, who, at seven, was abandoned along with her little brother, Travis, is elevated beyond Reynolds's (The Rapture of Cannan) already poetic text by Lamia's exquisite and skillful interpretation. The pain and anger of abandonment mixed with the ache of yearning to see her ne'er-do-well mother again is made palpable by Lamia's uncanny empathy toward her characters. Lil, Tessa Lee's grandmother and caretaker, tries to hold on to and protect her growing and hurting granddaughter. Though all the characters shine, Lamia's depiction of Tessa Lee is inspired. This is fine acting, not just reading. As one hears Tessa Lee breathing and smiling along with her thoughts, it makes the listener smile, too. Simultaneous release with the Shaye Areheart Books hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 13). (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Firefly Cloak
Narrated by Jenna Lamia
Sheri ReynoldsUnabridged — 8 hours, 16 minutes
Firefly Cloak
Narrated by Jenna Lamia
Sheri ReynoldsUnabridged — 8 hours, 16 minutes
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Overview
Editorial Reviews
(See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/05) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Adult/High School-Fifteen-year-old Tessa Lee is on a mission. She and her younger brother have grown up with their grandparents since their mother, Sheila, deserted them seven years earlier. But Tessa Lee is convinced that there is a good reason that her mother had to leave, and that all will work out when they meet again. So when a relative says that he has seen Sheila working at a seaside wax museum a couple of hours away, the teen sets off on a journey to reclaim her mother. The past seven years have turned Sheila into a broken, addicted woman, though, and Tessa Lee is forced to let go of the image she has held onto through her childhood. As the two struggle to come to terms with their new relationship, Tessa Lee must also work through the responsibility that she feels for her brother's recent death. Ever present in the background is Sheila's mother, Lil, who fears making the same mistakes with her granddaughter that she did with her daughter. Reynolds is in top form with these beautifully drawn, flawed characters. Fans of her previous novels will be drawn to her subtle, Southern lyricism, and teens will appreciate her perceptiveness in exploring damaged mother-daughter relationships.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Ms. Reynolds’s poetic gifts are uncommonly powerful.” —The New York Times
“Reynolds . . . is a gifted writer with a deceptively simple style and a keen ear for dialogue.” —The Boston Globe
“The newest and most exciting voice to emerge in contemporary Southern fiction.” —The San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Reynolds is in top form with these beautifully drawn, flawed characters.” —School Library Journal
“Simple prose rich with subtext, convincing dialogue, and a fascinating protagonist combine to produce a heartstring-plucker that’s explicit, tender, sad, and hopeful.” —Publishers Weekly
Ms. Reynolds’s poetic gifts are uncommonly powerful.
Eight-year-old Tessa Lee tells of being abandoned by her mother in a campground with her 4-year-old brother. At 15, Tessa Lee finds and confronts her mother, who flatly denies having had children. Narrator Jenna Lamia’s sunny Southern optimism fits Tessa Lee, a wily child with a quick tongue. Lamia is equally believable as Sheila, Tessa Lee’s addict mother, and her grandmother, Lil. Through flashbacks and subtle details, Lamia fleshes out their lives, keeping each separate yet inextricably joined with the others. The combination of an absorbing story spanning three generations; multi-layered, well-defined characters; precisely crafted writing; and Jenna Lamia’s admirable performance makes this audio worthwhile. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169981056 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HighBridge Company |
| Publication date: | 04/06/2006 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
The night before she lost her momma, Tessa Lee camped out in a two-roomed tent with her momma, her little brother Travis, and a crooked-nosed man named Goose. Goose had picked them up that morning at a grocery store in South Hibiscus and loaded their bags into the back of his pickup while her momma gave Tessa Lee a shove into the cab. When Travis was settled beside her, and when her momma had rooted in and slammed the door, Goose said, “Let's skedaddle,” and they rattled through the parking lot, waving goodbye to the old men who sat out front on benches and waited for the ice-cream truck. It was the first time Tessa Lee had ever heard that word, “skedaddle,” and she sang it over and over to a tune she made up herself. She sang it to Travis and grabbed at his pudding-belly and made him laugh until her momma told her to quit. “She ain’t bothering me,” Goose said. But Tessa Lee shut up anyway.
She couldn’t stop singing it in her head, though. As they bumped their way out of town, Tessa Lee studied the rear-view mirror and the dusty ghosts poofing up behind them. “Skedaddle, skedaddle,” she mouthed to the ghosts.
They’d left behind her bicycle and her Weebles, her Spirograph and her books. Her momma had said she wouldn't need toys while she was on vacation, but as they drove along hot roads that faded into wavy black seas, it seemed strange to Tessa Lee that she’d be going on vacation with a man she'd never met before. He was friendly enough, and let her steer for a long time in Alabama, but while Travis was steering, she turned around and saw that the wind had blown over a bag of her clothes. Her winter coat had spilled out, and the furry hood shivered like a kitten against the tail-gate.
Tessa Lee shivered too, in spite of the thick heat, and said to her momma, “Must be going on vacation in the North Pole if I'm gonna need my fur coat when I get there,” and Tessa Lee's momma shook her head and lit another smoke.
“Smart girl,” Goose said.
“If she’s smart, she'll quit sassing,” her momma replied. But Tessa Lee could tell she wasn’t mad. Just worried. She could see worry in the way her momma tapped that cigarette at the edge of the window sill, trying to keep the ashes neat and short and manageable. Not a bit like laid-back Goose who let his ashes grow long and fade to white, then drop down warm onto his hairy belly.
Goose listened to country and sang with all the yodelers and told stories about going on alligator hunts when he was a boy. After a while, Travis fell asleep, and when they stopped for gas somewhere in Tennessee, Tessa Lee’s momma was left holding him while she went in the store to help Goose tote out the Yoo-hoos. When the man behind the counter said, “Your little girl's gonna be a heartbreaker,” Goose said, “Already is,” and winked at Tessa Lee, and she trotted out proud with the drinks and decided it wouldn't be so bad to have a daddy named after a bird.
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