Silver Sparrow, Tayari Jones
Silver Sparrow, Tayari Jones
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Silver Sparrow

Author: Tayari Jones

Narrator: Rosalyn Coleman-Williams, Heather Alicia Simms

Unabridged: 10 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/24/2011

Synopsis

With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist,” author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s two families—the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters—the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle—she reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another’s lives. At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers—think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye—Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women.

About Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones is the author of Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, Silver Sparrow, and An American Marriage. She holds degrees from Spelman College, Arizona State University, and the University of Iowa, and she serves on the MFA faculty at Rutgers.

About Rosalyn Coleman-Williams

Rosalyn Coleman Williams is the director of the award-winning short film Allergic to Nuts. She is a 2003 Fox Fellow Award winner and was nominated for a 2006 Barrymore Award for Best Actress for her performance in Intimate Apparel at the Philadelphia Theater Company. Her film credits include Vanilla Sky, Our Song, and Music of the Heart. Rosalyn is a member of New York Women in Film and Television, the East Coast Writers Collective, and a lifetime member of the Actors Studio.

About Heather Alicia Simms

Heather Alicia Simms is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, finalist for an Audie Award, and an actress. Her filmography includes Broken Flowers, Flutter Kick, Shock Act, Kingscounty, Head of State, Third Watch, and others. She also provided voice acting for the video game Red Dead Revolver.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Wilhelmina

I had not intended to read this book so quickly or to stay up until 3 AM reading it, but I was so caught up in this beautifully written, touching story that I couldn't stop. It's the kind of book that makes you want to discuss it with others right away. I have admired Tayari Jones' writing since her......more

Goodreads review by Yun

In Silver Sparrow, we follow two sisters with different mothers who share the same father. The girls are kept away from each other. They grow up in seemingly similar circumstances, but their father's disparate treatment of them results in different lives for the two of them. When their paths finally......more

Goodreads review by Franc

There was a good premise here - 2 daughters, 2 mothers, 1 father. Only 1 mother/daughter pairing knew of the other. And then ultimately, they would all come together somewhow. It was the coming together that didn't wow! me - I wanted more from that very important turn-their-life-upside-down moment.......more

Goodreads review by Roxane

A rather stunning, richly detailed novel. I loved it very much. You can peep my full review here tomorrow: [URL not allowed]-s.........more

Quotes

“A love story…Full of perverse wisdom and proud joy…Jones’ skill for wry understatement never wavers.” O, The Oprah Magazine

“Charting a vast emotional unknown is Tayari Jones’ compelling third novel, Silver Sparrow, in which a teenage girl’s coming of age in 1990s Atlanta is shadowed by her dawning understanding of a corrosive secret—her father’s second family.” Vogue

“Absorbing…Jones writes dialogue that is realistic and sparkling, with an intuitive sense of how much to reveal and when.” Washington Post

“[Jones] is fast defining middle-class black Atlanta the way Cheever did Westchester.” Village Voice

“Impossible to put down until you find out how these sisters will discover their own versions of family.” Los Angeles Times

“Nakedly honest…Dazzlingly charged.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A tense, layered, and evocative tale…Jones explores the rivalry and connection of siblings, the meaning of beauty, the perils of young womanhood, the complexities of romantic relationships, and the contemporary African-American experience.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This is a heartbreaking story of two sisters, unknown to each other at first, who find and love each other for a short time in their lives.” Oklahoman

“[An] expansive third novel…Jones effectively blends the sisters’ varied, flawed perspectives as the characters struggle with presumptions of family and the unwieldy binds of love and identity.” Booklist

“Jones beautifully evokes Atlanta in the 1980s while creating gritty, imperfect characters whose pain lingers in the reader’s heart.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • Indie Next List
  • Library Journal Best Book
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