River, Cross My Heart, Breena Clarke
River, Cross My Heart, Breena Clarke
1 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

River, Cross My Heart

Author: Breena Clarke

Narrator: Karen Chilton

Unabridged: 7 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/17/2020


Synopsis

The acclaimed bestseller—a selection of Oprah’s Book Club—that brings vividly to life the Georgetown
neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl’s tragic death.

When five-year-old Clara Bynum drowns in the Potomac River under a seemingly haunted rock outcropping
known locally as the Three Sisters, the community must reconcile themselves to the bitter tragedy.

Clarke powerfully charts the fallout from Clara’s death on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and
Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city; the
friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially,
Clara’s sister, ten-year-old Johnnie Mae, who is thrust into adolescence and must come to terms with the terrible and
confused emotions stirred by her sister’s death.

This highly accomplished debut novel reverberates with ideas, impassioned lyricism, and poignant historical detail
as it captures an essential and moving portrait of the Washington, DC, community

About Breena Clarke

Breena Clarke grew up in Washington, DC, and was educated at Webster College and Howard University. Her novel River, Cross My Heart was an Oprah's Book Club selection and an international bestseller.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tony

The first thing to know about this book is that it basically has no plot -- it's more a series of loosely connected vignettes that, when taken as whole, combine to give the reader an impression of African-American life in the 1920s in a particular neighborhood in Washington, D.C. So, while the book......more

Goodreads review by Maya

I almost gave River, Cross My Heart one star, but decided that since I actually bothered to finish it, it deserved more than that. The book is about the impact of a little girl's drowning on her family, notably her big sister. It's a bit like a coming of age story, we follow the big sister through he......more

Breena Clarke's debut novel is an intimate and haunting look at the ramifications of the death of a child on her family members and neighbours. Set in an African-American neighbourhood in Georgetown, DC in the 1920s, River, Cross My Heart is also the coming-of-age story of Johnnie Mae Bynum and her......more

Goodreads review by Keyshia

i read a few reviews were people were saying the story has no plot, and i guess thats true. it was like i had a glimpse into someones (mostly Johnnie Mae) life. it was a trip and i enjoyed the journey. i find my self wanting to know how johnnie mae turned out as a full adult, did she go to schoool,......more