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Synopsis
Product DescriptionFiction/literature. Southern regional interest. Coming-of-age tale set chiefly against a background of late 1970's Memphis, Tennessee.
From the Inside Flap
When conservative Jackson Taylor meets Cassina Gambrel in the hot, memorable Memphis summer of 1978, he is never the same. Jackson's a wide-eyed college student; she's a wicked-tongue jack-of-all-trades twice his age. Their adventures together-and with Jackson's girlfriend, Laura Franklin, and roommate, Braden O'Brien-are a series of wild escapades in and around Memphis during a turbulent time that mixes firefighters' strikes and racial unrest with commemorations of the death of Elvis.
But there's a further twist to this coming-of-age story: Fifteen years after graduating from college, Jackson receives a strange note from Braden informing him that "Cassina Gambrel is missing." Jackson, now living in Boston, returns to Memphis where he joins his old friends to search for the beguiling Cassina. This time around their experiences take on a more serious tone. The story weaves back and forth between the present and the past. We-and they-discover the ways they thought they had grown up and the ways they finally do.
"Cassina Gambrel Was Missing" is like an extended blues song set out in a novel: It twists and turns like the Mississippi River; it's bawdy and raucous and sad and surprising; it starts one way and ends another. And it could only happen in Memphis.
From the Back Cover
". . . or maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps there was something going on behind the scenes that I'll never know . . . . But I do know some things for sure: My life in Memphis was like Memphis, itself, and Memphis is music . . . . And maybe that's why this story of Cassina Gambrel is what it is - rhythmic, and funny, and Christ, so blue."
When he was young, Jackson Taylor went looking for adventure in Memphis and found Cassina Gambrel. Fifteen years later, he goes back to look for Cassina and finds himself.
William Watkins's masterfully told debut novel is part coming-of-age story, part comedy of manners. "Cassina Gambrel Was Missing" is a fable that will make you laugh out loud, then cry at the breathtaking truths it tells. And it's a tale that could only happen in Memphis.
About the Author
William Watkins is a freelance writer and producer whose television work has appeared nationally on the CBS News broadcast, "Up to the Minute." He has also worked in media relations at the CBS Television Network in both its News and Entertainment divisions as well as at SW Networks (Sony) for the kickoff of "The Mario Cuomo Show" on radio.
Prior to that, Watkins worked in the religion and human rights fields as a chaplain for AIDS patients and in various capacitites at the national headquarters of Amnesty International, USA in New York. He received his Master of Divinity Degree from the General Theological Seminary and also studied at New York Theological Seminary.
Bill is a native of Greenville, South Carolina and lived for several years in Memphis, Tennessee where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College).
He lives in New York City where he is currently working on his second novel and a television documentary.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One Shvarzers "LORD," SAID CASSINA Gambrel, settling her hindquarters on a bench by the fountain in Court Square, "just look at all the shvarzers. There sure are a lot of shvarzers downtown today!" I choked on my Coca-Cola, sending it dribbling down my chin. I couldn't have heard that. She couldn't have said it. "What on earth ... what are you saying?" Then, giving her the benefit of the doubt-"Cassina, do you know what a shvarzer is?" I sucked a straw full of cola to try to clear my throat. Dumb. "Well, I reckon they's cars. Miss Esther always says, 'You cain't go anyplace downtown anymore for all the shvarzers!' " When the Coke stopped running out of my nostrils, I se
Book Details
Published
June 20, 1999
Publisher
Lynx Publishing Company
Pages
187
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780966896503