Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Life and Other Love Songs by Anissa Gray - Available

Life and Other Love Songs

by Anissa Gray
Dominic Hoffman
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
“Musical in structure—the octaves rise when the music calls for it; truths are revealed by the invisible beats of this gorgeous, rich story” –Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful (Oprah’s Book Club Pick)
“Riveting, rhythmic, transcendent...a stellar family saga.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone
Named a Most Anticipated Book by Time ∙ Essence ∙ Real Simple ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ Atlanta-Journal Constitution ∙ The Root ∙ SheReads ∙ Atlanta Magazine ∙ Zibby Mag
 
A father’s sudden disappearance exposes the private fears, dreams, longings, and joys of a Black American family in the late decades of the twentieth century, in this page-turning and intimate new novel from the author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls.
It’s a warm, bright October afternoon, and Ozro Armstead walks out into the brilliant sunshine on his thirty-seventh birthday. At home, his wife Deborah and daughter Trinity prepare a surprise celebration; down the street, his brother waves as Oz heads back to his office after having lunch together.
 
But he won’t make it to the party or even to his briefcase back at his desk. He's about to disappear.
 
In the days, months, and years to follow, Deborah and Trinity look backward and forward as they piece together the life of the man they love, but whom they come to realize they might never have truly known.
 
In a gripping narrative that moves from the Great Migration to 1970s Detroit and 1990s New York, we follow the hopes, triumphs, losses, and secrets that build up and tear apart an American family.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 11, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593675205
      • File size: 306927 KB
      • Duration: 10:39:25

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 27, 2023
      Gray (The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls) follows three generations of a Black Detroit family in her poignant latest. Deborah and Oz Armstead marry young, not long after meeting as teens at a 1962 rent party. Gray traces their effort to rise above menial jobs in a hospital kitchen and on a graveyard shift at GM, respectively. As Deborah chases her dream of a Motown singing career and they have a daughter, Trinity, Deborah comes to suspect Oz hasn’t shared the whole story of his past. Then, on Oz’s 37th birthday, he disappears, leaving behind Deborah; teenage Trinity; Oz’s younger brother, Tommy; and the brothers’ mother, Pearl. Unsure if he’s dead or alive (“absence was not the same as death,” Trinity narrates), the family tries to move on. As Deborah struggles with alcohol and career disappointments, the years tick past, and each character is shaped by others’ actions, as well as the country’s changing political and social turmoil. Gray gradually reveals the painful events that forced Oz, Pearl, and Tommy to leave Alabama in 1962 and head north. Along the way, there are plenty of razor-sharp observations (“They calling this a riot? This ain’t no riot. It’s a uprising. A rebellion,” remarks a preacher in 1967). Gray does not disappoint. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading