Tumbling: A Novel (p.S.) [Paperback]

“Even the air is palpable inTumbling...The story moves forth on the power of Ms. McKinney-Whetstone’s characters. Ms. McKinney-Whetstone captures the formidable struggle to protect both a community and a family.” —New York Times Book Review

“Warm and intimate....Tumblingis an accomplished novel, with sharply drawn characters, exuberant prose, plenty of period detail and a wise, forgiving outlook on family life.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

The beloved bestselling debut novel that launched the luminous career of Diane McKinney Whetstone, critically acclaimed author ofTempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, andTrading Dreams at Midnight. Writing in a style as accessible as Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back), yet with the literary touches of Toni Morrison (Beloved, Song of Solomon), McKinney Whetstone’sTumblingis the “warm and wonderful” (Nikki Giovanni), beautiful and uplifting story of Noon and Herbie and their tight-knit Philadelphia neighborhood in the 1940s and 50s.

Noon and Herbie are deeply in love and living in a tightly knit African American neighborhood in South Philadelphia during the 1940s. But their marriage remains unconsummated because of a horrible incident in Noon's past, so each seeks comfort elsewhere: Noon in the warm acceptance of the neighborhood church; Herbie in the arms of Ethel, a jazz singer. Then one day an infant girl is left on their doorstep, and later Ethel blesses them with her five-year-old niece. Suddenly and unexpectedly a family, Herbie, Noon, and their two girls draw closer—until an outside threat reawakens a fire in Noon, causing her to rise up and fight to hold her family and her community together.

Diane McKinney-Whetstone'sTumblingis a poignant, exquisitely rendered story of the ties that bind us and l³.