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    That Fernhill Summer
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    That Fernhill Summer
    Unavailable
    That Fernhill Summer
    Ebook165 pages2 hours

    That Fernhill Summer

    By Colby Rodowsky

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Kiara Jones-Birkell knows a lot about the Birkell side of her family, and nothing about the Joneses. The one time she tried to ask about her mother's relatives, her mom turned a spooky greenish-white color and refused to talk to anyone. So it comes as quite a shock when Kiara learns that the grandmother she never knew she had is expected to die at any moment.

    Suddenly Kiara finds herself on a train heading for Baltimore - and her mother's secret past. There she meets Zenobia, the world's most stubborn grandmother, who is as eruptive as Mount Vesuvius. Kiara can't understand what Zenobia could possibly have against her - is it simply the fact that her skin is dark like mocha latte, while all her cousins are white? Or is there, as Kiara's mother keeps hinting, much more to the story?

    Told from the point of view of a teenager with spot-on observations and hilarious insights, this is the story of three generations of stubborn - and charmingly funny - women.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJul 7, 2015
    ISBN9781466894211
    Unavailable
    That Fernhill Summer
    Author

    Colby Rodowsky

    Colby Rodowsky Whenever I try to piece together anything even slightly resembling an autobiographical sketch, I find that a lot of my remembering has to do with books: what I read (almost anything); where I read (almost anywhere); and why. Why is the key. It has, in part, to do with being an only child, often alone. I spent a part of every summer visiting my grandmother on the eastern shore of Virginia, where the days were long and hot and there was absolutely nothing to do. Nothing to do, that is, until I discovered the library that had been a church (open three afternoons a week, and with the fiction section two steps up, where the altar used to be), and for the off-days, my grandmother's attic (and all the books my mother and aunt had read as children). It's no wonder that that library and attic keep turning up in the things I write. There is, after all, something to be said for aloneness, at least in my case, because it led to books. I like to think that there is a lovely distinction between aloneness and loneliness, and the real reader will rejoice in the one and never know the other. Anyway, I read. (Well, I did other things, too: jumped rope and collected bottle caps and paper dolls.) I grew up in Baltimore, New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore again; went to college (majoring in English); and taught school (third grade and then Special Education). I got married (to a lawyer who is now a judge) and had six children (five girls and one boy) and learned to make cupcakes and Halloween costumes and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. I still read. In order to find time for reading, I had to make sure the children had something to do -- so I cultivated readers. Believe it or not, in a household of eight, we all managed to find time for a little aloneness. But there was something else that kept prodding me: the books I hadn't written yet. Once, when I was about ten years old, I woke my mother in the middle of the night and said, "Who shall I dedicate my first book to?" And she, with great practicality, said,"Why don't you write it first." And went back to sleep. So, when the children were old enough to make their own cupcakes and Halloween costumes, I did. I have been writing ever since and hope to keep it up for a long time to come. The children are grown now and there are five sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and thirteen grandchildren. There are new readers in the family to encourage, to foster.

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    • 3/5
      A quick and fun read. 13-year-old Kiara finds herself with a bunch of relatives she never knew existed. The mean and evil grandmother reminded me of my own unlamented Great-grandmother. Touches on lots of familial themes- love, loyalty, betrayal, expectations & more. Warmly told and sweet.