Ellen Foster

Kaye Gibbons

ISBN 10: 0788720198 ISBN 13: 9780788720192

Publisher: Recorded Books, 1998

Synopsis

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy."

So begins the tale of Ellen Foster, the brave and engaging heroine of Kaye Gibbons's first novel, which won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Wise, funny, affectionate and true, Ellen Foster is, as Walker Percy called it, "The real thing. Which is to say, a lovely, sometimes heart/wrenching novel...[Ellen Foster] is as much a part of the backwoods South as a Faulkner character and a good deal more endearing."

About this title

Reviews

Ellen Foster is the 11-year-old victim of poverty, abuse and unimaginable neglect. Her story would be unbearable were it not for the direct, no-pity-expected manner in which Ellen relates her sad tale. Her matter-of-fact style is captured expertly by narrator Ruth Ann Phimister, who injects the telling with Ellen's dry humor and honest, clear-eyed recognition of the shortcomings of the adults in her life. Phimister creates a believable 11-year-old and, although her Southern accent occasionally strikes an odd note, she sustains both the accent and the youthful voice throughout. Listeners will be enriched by keeping company with Ellen. D.M.L. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Recorded Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0788720198
• ISBN 13: 9780788720192
• Binding: Audio Cassette