Saint Monkey

Publisher Marketing: A stunning debut novel of two girls raised in hardship, separated by fortune, and reunited through tragedy. Fourteen-year-old Audrey Martin, with her Poindexter glasses and her head humming the 3/4 meter of gospel music, knows she'll never get out of Kentucky but when her fingers touch the piano keys, the whole church trembles. Her best friend, Caroline, daydreams about Hollywood stardom, but both girls feel destined to languish in a slow-moving stopover town in Montgomery County. That is, until chance intervenes and a booking agent offers Audrey a ticket to join the booming jazz scene in Harlem an offer she can't resist, not even for Caroline. And in New York City the music never stops. Audrey flirts with love and takes the stage at the Apollo, with its fast-dancing crowds and blinding lights. But fortunes can turn fast in the city young talent means tough competition, and for Audrey failure is always one step away. Meanwhile, Caroline sinks into the quiet anguish of a Black woman in a backwards country, where her ambitions and desires only slip further out of reach. Jacinda Townsend's remarkable first novel is a coming-of-age story made at once gripping and poignant by the wild energy of the Jazz Era and the stark realities of segregation. Marrying musical prose with lyric vernacular, "Saint Monkey" delivers a stirring portrait of American storytelling and marks the appearance of an auspicious new voice in literary fiction." Review Citations: Audio File 10/01/2014 pg. 25 (EAN 9781501215643, MP3 CD) New York Times Book Review 03/29/2015 pg. 28 (EAN 9780393350821, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 12/16/2013 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2013 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) Library Journal 01/01/2014 pg. 103 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Booklist 01/01/2014 pg. 56 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Ebony 03/01/2014 pg. 34 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 04/20/2014 pg. 9 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 04/27/2014 pg. 30 (EAN 9780393080049, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Townsend, Jacinda Jacinda Townsend studied at Harvard University and Duke University Law School before receiving her MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. She teaches creative writing at Indiana University. Saint Monkey is her first novel. Contributor Bio:  Johnson, Allyson Allyson Johnson began her entertainment career in her hometown of Chicago as an Emmy Award winning child news anchor. A graduate of Brown University, she is a working actress, singer, and audiobook narrator in the New York City metropolitan area.