Coleman Hill, Kim Coleman Foote
Coleman Hill, Kim Coleman Foote
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
Club: $17.49

Coleman Hill

Author: Kim Coleman Foote

Narrator: Bahni Turpin, Dion Graham

Unabridged: 9 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Zando

Published: 09/06/2023


Synopsis

Coleman Hill is the exhilarating story of two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration. Braiding fact and fiction, it is a remarkable, character-rich tour de force exploring the ties that bind three generations. In 1916, Celia Coleman and Lucy Grimes flee the racism and poverty of their homes in the post–Civil War South for the “Promised Land” of the North. But soon they learn that even in Vauxhall, New Jersey, black women are mainly hired for domestic work, money is scarce, children don’t progress in school, and black men die young. Within a few short years, both women’s husbands are dead. Left to navigate this unwelcoming place alone, Celia and Lucy turn to one another for support in raising their children far from home. They become one another’s closest confidantes and, encouraged by their mothers’ friendship, their children’s lives become enmeshed as well. However, with this closeness comes complication. As the children grow into adolescence, two are caught in an impulsive act of impropriety, and Celia and Lucy find themselves at irreconcilable odds over who’s to blame. The ensuing fallout has dire consequences that reverberate through the next two generations of their families. A stunning biomythography—a word coined by the late great writer Audre Lorde—Coleman Hill draws from the author’s own family legend, historical record, and fervent imagination to create an unforgettable new history.

About Kim Coleman Foote

Kim Coleman Foote grew up in New Jersey in the family on which the novel is based. She is the George Bennett Fellow at Exeter, and the recipient of fellowships from the NEA, Fulbright Foundation, NYFA, Illinois Arts Council, and the Center for Fiction. She has been a resident at MacDowell, Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Hedgebrook, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and elsewhere. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Short Stories 2022, Ecotone, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, The Missouri Review, Black Renaissance Noire, Obsidian, and many others.

About Bahni Turpin

Bahni Turpin is an experienced audiobook narrator and actress who has appeared in numerous television productions as well as films. An ensemble member of the Cornerstone Theater Company, she also works as a yoga instructor. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she founded the SoLA Food Co-op.

About Dion Graham

Dion Graham is a multiple Audie award–winning narrator and a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series, including HBO's The Wire. His performances have been praised as thoughtful, compelling, vivid, and full of life.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah Jessica on August 03, 2023

I’m thrilled to publish Kim Coleman Foote’s remarkable debut, Coleman Hill. A work of fiction inspired by and interwoven with family history, Kim’s book is a stunning biomythography—a term coined by Audre Lorde for a work that draws from multiple sources to create a modern myth, a new history. In do......more

Goodreads review by Karen on August 11, 2023

The story two families who move to New Jersey from the South in 1916 during the Great Migration to escape the Klan and other issues… and to better their lives. The mothers Lucy and Celia become friends and this is the story of their marriages, children , grandchildren.. A story with the poverty, abuse......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on August 30, 2024

A masterfully crafted multi-generational saga. Check out my BookTube review on Hello, Bookworm. 📚🐛 Coleman Hill is a biomythography; meaning, it combines real photographs, historical records, the author’s own family history, interviews, oral histories, and the author’s imagination to tell the......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on September 01, 2023

Kim Coleman Foote has taken the details of her family history with some treasured photos and woven a riveting story about two Black families who migrated from the South to New Jersey (ie: the Promised Land) around 1916 to find factory jobs. They left the abuse of Southern racists behind but carried......more

Goodreads review by Louise on September 23, 2023

I was hoping to love this story more than I did. It’s a fictionalized version of the author’s family history, spanning most of the twentieth century. The genre is apparently now called “biomythography.” The Coleman and Grimes families both migrated north from Alabama and Florida at the same time, ar......more