No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts

Description

Bibliographic Details

• Author: Stephanie Powell Watts
• Title: No One is Coming to Save Us
• Publisher: ‎ Thorndike Press Large Print; Large Type / Large Print Edition (June 21, 2017)
• Language: ‎ English
• Format: Hardcover w/Library Binding (Large Print) – 517 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 1410497917
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1410497918
• Item Weight: ‎ 1.40 pounds
• Dimensions: ‎ 5.7 x 1.2 x 8.6 inches
• Book Condition: Used – Very Good (Former library book; may include the markings and stickers associated from the library. May show signs of minor discoloration on page edges). 
• Cover Condition: Very Good
• Edition: Large Print Edition

Synopsis:

JJ Ferguson has returned home to Pinewood, North Carolina, to build his dream house and to pursue his high school sweetheart, Ava. But as he reenters his former world, where factories are in decline and the legacy of Jim Crow is still felt, he’s startled to find that the people he once knew and loved have changed just as much as he has.

Ava is now married and desperate for a baby, though she can’t seem to carry one to term. Her husband, Henry, has grown distant, frustrated by the demise of the furniture industry, which has outsourced to China and stripped the area of jobs.

Ava’s mother, Sylvia, caters to and meddles with the lives of those around her, trying to fill the void left by her absent son. And Don, Sylvia’s unworthy but charming husband, just won’t stop hanging around.

JJ’s return—and his plans to build a huge mansion overlooking Pinewood and woo Ava—not only unsettles their family, but stirs up the entire town. The ostentatious wealth that JJ has attained forces everyone to consider the cards they’ve been dealt, what more they want and deserve, and how they might go about getting it.

Can they reorient their lives to align with their wishes rather than their current realities?

Or are they all already resigned to the rhythms of the particular lives they lead?

No One Is Coming to Save Us is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice: with echoes of The Great Gatsby it is an arresting and powerful novel about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream. In evocative prose, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted a full and stunning portrait that combines a universally resonant story with an intimate glimpse into the hearts of one family.

About the Author:

Stephanie Powell Watts' debut novel No One Is Coming to Save Us was published by Ecco in 2017.

Watts won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for her debut story collection, We Are Taking Only What We Need (2012), also named one of 2013’s Best Summer Reads by O: The Oprah Magazine. Her short fiction has been included in two volumes of the Best New Stories from the South anthology and honored with a Pushcart Prize.

Born in the foothills of North Carolina, with a PhD from the University of Missouri and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, she now lives with her husband and son in Pennsylvania where she is an associate professor at Lehigh University.

Her author website can be found at: http://stephaniepowellwatts.com/