Dorothy Allison

Greenville County, South Carolina, är en vild, frodig plats som är hem för familjen Boatwright, en tätt sammanflätad klan av grovhuggna och tungt alkoholiserade män som anser att allt kan lösas med ett hagelgevär eller en träpåk, och okuvliga kvinnor som gifter sig unga och åldras för tidigt. I centrum för denna berättelse befinner sig Ruth Anne Boatwright, en flicka som alla kallar Bone, ett utomäktenskapligt barn som får uppleva världen på ett skoningslöst sätt. När hennes styvfar Glen, ”kall som döden, elak som en orm”, blir alltmer brutal mot henne, finner Bone sig själv i ett triangeldrama som prövar hennes mor Anneys lojalitet som leder till en slutgiltig och skakande sammandrabbning från vilken en väg tillbaka är omöjlig.OM FÖRFATTAREN: Dorothy Allison växte upp i Greenville, South Carolina, som första barnet till en ogift femtonårig mor som arbetade som servitris. Som den första i familjen att ta examen från gymnasiet, fortsatte sedan Allison att studera vid Florida Presbyterian College (numera Eckerd College) på ett National Merit Scholarship och studerade antropologi på New School for Social Research. Allisons skillingtryck med poesi, The Women Who Hate Me, publicerades 1983. Hennes novellsamling Trash kom 1988, följt av Bastard Out of Carolina. Romanen blev finalist i 1992 års National Book Award, den fick Ferro Grumley Prize och en ALA Award för Lesbian and Gay Writing. Romanen blev också översatt till ett dussintal språk och gjordes även till en prisbelönad film. Cavedweller, Allisons andra roman blev en nationell bästsäljare, fick New York Times Notable Book, och sattes upp på teater och blev även den till film. 2007 mottog Allison Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction och är medlem i styrelsen för the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Crooked Letter i offers a collection of first-person nonfiction narratives that reflect the distinct 'coming out' experiences of a complex cross-section of gay, lesbian, and transgendered Southerners from all walks of life and at different stages in their lives.There is the Appalachian widower who, following the death of his wife, decides it's time to tell his church community. There is the young man who left his hometown as a girl, returning hesitant but hopeful for his grandmother's love. There is the adolescent girl who refuses to surrender her soul to Jesus because she is not yet certain of her own beliefs. There is the well-mannered Southern gentleman who hopes his blueberries and biscuits will help ease the awkwardness of coming out to his elderly neighbor. There are the ones who survived the frequent bar raids, arrests, and beatings. But, there is also the first kiss, and the first love.The experiences represented here pivot around a central theme—finally finding language to understand one's identity, and then discovering we were never the only ones. Revealing a vibrant cross-section of Southerners, the writers of these narratives have in common the experience of being Southern and different, but determined against all odds.

Adopted as a baby and raised by a devout Jehovah's Witness family, Joy Castro is constantly reminded to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. Nevertheless, Castro finds this tenet to be the most violated. Here, in her very own Truth Book, Castro bears witness to a childhood lost but a life regained.Castro's parents divorce after her father is excommunicated for smoking. She is twelve when her mother marries a "brother" in the church who, though exhibiting an impeccable public persona, is violent and controlling at home. For two years, Joy does not grow at all; in fact, she loses sixteen pounds in response to the physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse she suffers at his hands. Her battered mother does nothing to protect her, nor does her church. She is sustained by humor, books, and her protective love for her younger brother until their daring escape. This courageous personal account looks freshly at the disturbing effects of religious hypocrisy and the resilience of the human spirit.

'About as close to flawless as any reader could ask for' The New York Times Book Review'For anyone who has ever felt the contempt of a self-righteous world, this book will resonate within you like a gospel choir. For anyone who hasn't, this book will be an education' Barbara Kingsolver Carolina in the 1950s, and Bone - christened Ruth Anna Boatwright - lives a happy life, in and out of her aunt's houses, playing with her cousins on the porch, sipping ice tea, loving her little sister Reece and her beautiful young mother. But Glen Waddell has been watching them all, wanting her mother too, and when he promises a new life for the family, her mother gratefully accepts. Soon Bone finds herself in a different, terrible world, living in fear, and an exile from everything she knows. Bastard Out of Carolina is a raw, poignant tale of fury, power, love and family.This editon contains an introduction by the author. Dorothy Allison was awarded the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction, and has been likened to Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner and Harper Lee.

A profound portrait of family dynamics in the rural South and "an essential novel" (The New Yorker) "As close to flawless as any reader could ask for . . . The living language Allison] has created is as exact and innovative as the language of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye." --The New York Times Book Review One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years The publication of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina was a landmark event that won the author a National Book Award nomination and launched her into the literary spotlight. Critics have likened Allison to Harper Lee, naming her the first writer of her generation to dramatize the lives and language of poor whites in the South. Since its appearance, the novel has inspired an award-winning film and has been banned from libraries and classrooms, championed by fans, and defended by critics. Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place that is home to the Boatwright family--a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn, hard-drinking men who shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who get married young and age too quickly. At the heart of this story is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a bastard child who observes the world around her with a mercilessly keen perspective. When her stepfather Daddy Glen, "cold as death, mean as a snake," becomes increasingly more vicious toward her, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that tests the loyalty of her mother, Anney--and leads to a final, harrowing encounter from which there can be no turning back.

The Writer's Notebook compiles the best craft seminars in the history of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, along with a variety of craft essays from some of Tin House's favorite writers. The cast of deeply respected poets and prose writers explore topics that vary from writing dialogue to the dos and don'ts of writing about sex. With how-tos, close readings, and personal anecdotes, The Writer's Notebook offers aspiring scribes advice and inspiration to hone their own craft.

Trash, Allison's landmark collection, laid the groundwork for her critically acclaimed Bastard Out of Carolina, the National Book Award finalist that was hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "simply stunning...a wonderful work of fiction by a major talent." In addition to Allison's classic stories, this new edition of Trash features "Stubborn Girls and Mean Stories," an introduction in which Allison discusses the writing of Trash and "Compassion," a never-before-published short story. First published in 1988, the award-winning Trash showcases Allison at her most fearlessly honest and startlingly vivid. The limitless scope of human emotion and experience are depicted in stories that give aching and eloquent voice to the terrible wounds we inflict on those closest to us. These are tales of loss and redemption; of shame and forgiveness; of love and abuse and the healing power of storytelling. A book that resonates with uncompromising candor and incandescence, Trash is sure to captivate Allison's legion of readers and win her a devoted new following.

Bastard Out of Carolina, nominated for the 1992 National Book Award for fiction, introduced Dorothy Allison as one of the most passionate and gifted writers of her generation. Now, in Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, she takes a probing look at her family's history to give us a lyrical, complex memoir that explores how the gossip of one generation can become legends for the next. Illustrated with photographs from the author's personal collection, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of the Gibson women -- sisters, cousins, daughters, and aunts -- and the men who loved them, often abused them, and, nonetheless, shared their destinies. With luminous clarity, Allison explores how desire surprises and what power feels like to a young girl as she confronts abuse. As always, Dorothy Allison is provocative, confrontational, and brutally honest. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, steeped in the hard-won wisdom of experience, expresses the strength of her unique vision with beauty and eloquence.