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Harper Fleming is done with being passed over. As a journalist for a Chicago newspaper, she's been refused a shot at the sportswriter position she longs for. And her on again/off again relationship is going nowhere. Leaving both behind, she heads to Nashville, Tennessee, where she plans to interview her widowed grandfather, Bernard Fleming, for a book about his father Kelton Fleming's time in the Negro Baseball Leagues.
When Bernard reveals health issues within days of her arrival, Harper assumes responsibility for taking care of him. And when she mentions his father playing baseball in the Negro Leagues, Bernard gives her a trove of letters, journals, and clippings encompassing Kelton's career. But some stories are too personal to print without dishonoring the memory of her great-grandmother. Instead, with Bernard's approval, Harper begins weaving them into a novel, telling her great-grandfather's story through the eyes of the fictional Moses Gillian.
Chapters flow effortlessly as Harper breathes life into each memory. Particularly intense are Kelton's recollections of the Green Book, an annual guidebook that helped African Americans navigate the segregated South. Negro League teams relied on it as they traveled between games, hurrying out of unwelcoming towns before sundown to avoid the Klan.
As Harper delves into Kelton's past, a piece of her own resurfaces in the form of Cheney, the childhood friend of her brothers'. And as Harper honors her great-grandfather's life, she finds the inspiration to take her own in a bold new direction . . .
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 24, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781496742759
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781496742759
- File size: 1551 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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December 1, 2024
Journalist Harper Fleming dreamed of becoming a sports reporter. But now, for the second time, the editor-in-chief of the Black-owned biweekly she writes for has given someone else the position. She resigns on the spot. Claiming time for herself, she goes to her grandfather in Nashville where she considers writing about her great-grandfather who played baseball in the Negro Leagues. Fortuitously, his meticulous journals left a rich account of life as an attractive, charming, professional athlete from 1936 to 1947. As she delves into the fascinating details of his life, his loves, baseball in the Negro Leagues, and winter baseball leagues in several Latin American countries, Harper transforms his story into a riveting, and sometimes scandalous, novel. A chance coincidence reconnects Harper with Cheney Sanders, a childhood friend of her brothers who changes her visit to Nashville. Alers skillfully entwines baseball history, the ugliness of the Jim Crow era, and the intricacies of families for a thoroughly satisfying read in this novel within a novel.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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