![]() In Tempest Rising, McKinney-Whetstone richly evokes the early 1960s in west Philadelphia in this story of loss and healing, redemption, and love. ![]() As Ramona struggles with Mae's abuse and her own hatred for the foster children, she also tries to keep at bay a powerful attraction she has for her boyfriend's father. Though Mae lavishes affection onto her foster children, she is abusive to her own child, Ramona, a twenty-something stunning beauty. ![]() A trio of Philadelphia-born sisters is the focus of this solid if uninspired second novel: Shern, Victoria, and Bliss are born to loving, well-meaning parents, but the forces of circumstance cause their lives to change drastically one day in 1965. ![]() The girls are wrenched from their mother and dumped into foster care in a working-class neighborhood in the home of Mae, a politically connected card shark. McKinney-Whetstone (Tumbling, 1996) scores big on mood and language, less on plot and character. When their father disappears suddenly, he is presumed dead, sending their mother spiraling into an apparent breakdown. But their lives quickly unravel as their father's lucrative catering business collapses. Set in west Philadelphia in the early sixties, Tempest Rising tells the story of three sisters, Bliss, Victoria, and Shern, budding adolescents raised in a world of financial privilege among the upper-black-class. ![]() Class, race, and sexuality converge in this page-turning story of desire, jealousy, and survival. ![]()
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