Join us on Tuesday, October 4th at 7pm PT when Laura Warrell celebrates her debut novel, Sweet, Soft, Plenty of Rhythm, at 9th Ave!
Masks and Proof of Vaccination Required for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online by registering at the link ABOVE
Praise for Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
"Told in a rich array of voices, this gorgeously written debut explores the myriad syncopations of love and desire. Laura Warrell writes with an enormous understanding of human nature, a boundless sympathy for life's complications, and a keen eye for life's unexpected joys." --Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere
"Beautifully and cleverly written, Laura Warrell's Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a stunner. The novel's tender, sensual, enchanting prose entices you into a world of deep longing and so much heartache. Still, I didn't want to leave it. A truly mesmerizing debut!" --Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
"The most memorable novels of my life are boiling over with insatiably written secondary characters that crave their own books. The same can be said about our most jamming jazz quartets. This peculiar cacophony is exactly what we see in at least five characters in Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm. Koko, for example, is a once in lifetime, once in a galaxy character. Laura Warrell has crafted a world within the world with the achy mystery, wonder and subtexual bounce of the greatest jazz. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a soulful, fleshy and absolutely stunning debut. Warrell will re-teach us how to wail, pause and reckon. I am thankful." --Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
About Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
Passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, jazz and soul: a "gorgeously written debut" (Celeste Ng, best-selling author of Little Fires Everywhere) about the perennial temptations of dangerous love, told by the women who love Circus Palmer--trumpet player and old-school ladies' man--as they ultimately discover the power of their own voices.
"A modern masterpiece." --Jason Reynolds, best-selling author of Look Both Ways
It's 2013, and Circus Palmer, a forty-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies' man, lives for his music and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him. Instead of facing the necessary conversation, Circus flees, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life. Most notable among them is his teenage daughter, Koko, who idolizes him and is awakening to her own sexuality even as her mentally fragile mother struggles to overcome her long-failed marriage and rejection by Circus.
Delivering a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Warrell spins a provocative, soulful, and gripping story of passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, and, finally, hope and reconciliation, in answer to the age-old question: how do we find belonging when love is unrequited?
About Laura Warrell
Laura Warrell is a contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the Tin House Writers' Workshop, and is a graduate of the creative writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in HuffPost, The Rumpus, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She has taught creative writing and literature at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and through the Emerging Voices Program at PEN America in Los Angeles, where she lives.
Join us on Tuesday, October 4th at 7pm PT when Laura Warrell celebrates her debut novel, Sweet, Soft, Plenty of Rhythm, at 9th Ave!
Masks and Proof of Vaccination Required for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online by registering at the link ABOVE
Praise for Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
"Told in a rich array of voices, this gorgeously written debut explores the myriad syncopations of love and desire. Laura Warrell writes with an enormous understanding of human nature, a boundless sympathy for life's complications, and a keen eye for life's unexpected joys." --Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere
"Beautifully and cleverly written, Laura Warrell's Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a stunner. The novel's tender, sensual, enchanting prose entices you into a world of deep longing and so much heartache. Still, I didn't want to leave it. A truly mesmerizing debut!" --Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
"The most memorable novels of my life are boiling over with insatiably written secondary characters that crave their own books. The same can be said about our most jamming jazz quartets. This peculiar cacophony is exactly what we see in at least five characters in Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm. Koko, for example, is a once in lifetime, once in a galaxy character. Laura Warrell has crafted a world within the world with the achy mystery, wonder and subtexual bounce of the greatest jazz. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a soulful, fleshy and absolutely stunning debut. Warrell will re-teach us how to wail, pause and reckon. I am thankful." --Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
About Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
Passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, jazz and soul: a "gorgeously written debut" (Celeste Ng, best-selling author of Little Fires Everywhere) about the perennial temptations of dangerous love, told by the women who love Circus Palmer--trumpet player and old-school ladies' man--as they ultimately discover the power of their own voices.
"A modern masterpiece." --Jason Reynolds, best-selling author of Look Both Ways
It's 2013, and Circus Palmer, a forty-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies' man, lives for his music and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him. Instead of facing the necessary conversation, Circus flees, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life. Most notable among them is his teenage daughter, Koko, who idolizes him and is awakening to her own sexuality even as her mentally fragile mother struggles to overcome her long-failed marriage and rejection by Circus.
Delivering a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Warrell spins a provocative, soulful, and gripping story of passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, and, finally, hope and reconciliation, in answer to the age-old question: how do we find belonging when love is unrequited?
About Laura Warrell
Laura Warrell is a contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the Tin House Writers' Workshop, and is a graduate of the creative writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in HuffPost, The Rumpus, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She has taught creative writing and literature at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and through the Emerging Voices Program at PEN America in Los Angeles, where she lives.
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