Home and Away, Rochelle Alers
Home and Away, Rochelle Alers
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Home and Away

Author: Rochelle Alers

Narrator: Patricia R. Floyd

Unabridged: 12 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 12/24/2024


Synopsis

Spanning more than eighty years, from Memphis in the 1930s and 1940s to present-day Chicago, this sweeping novel draws on the turbulent history of the baseball’s Negro Leagues, as the great-granddaughter of a former player sets out to tell her family’s story—and redefine her own.

Harper Fleming is done with being passed over. As a journalist for a Chicago newspaper, she’s been refused a shot at the sportswriter position she longs for. And her on again/off again relationship is going nowhere. Leaving both behind, she heads to Nashville, Tennessee, where she plans to interview her widowed grandfather, Bernard Fleming, for a book about his father Kelton Fleming’s time in the Negro Baseball Leagues.

When Bernard reveals health issues within days of her arrival, Harper assumes responsibility for taking care of him. And when she mentions his father playing baseball in the Negro Leagues, Bernard gives her a trove of letters, journals, and clippings encompassing Kelton’s career. But some stories are too personal to print without dishonoring the memory of her great-grandmother. Instead, with Bernard’s approval, Harper begins weaving them into a novel, telling her great-grandfather’s story through the eyes of the fictional Moses Gilliam.

Chapters flow effortlessly as Harper breathes life into each memory. Particularly intense are Kelton’s recollections of the Green Book, an annual guidebook that helped African Americans navigate the segregated South. Negro Leagues teams relied on it as they traveled between games, hurrying out of unwelcoming towns before sundown to avoid the Klan.

As Harper delves into Kelton’s past, a piece of her own resurfaces in the form of Cheney, the childhood friend of her brothers’. And as Harper honors her great-grandfather’s life, she finds the inspiration to take her own in a bold new direction …

Author Bio

Rochelle Alers, the bestselling author of over eighty novels has been hailed as one of today's most prolific and popular African American authors of romance and women's fiction. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Emma Award, the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing, the RT Career Achievement Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Iota Theta Zeta chapter and her interests include gourmet cooking and traveling. A full-time writer, Ms. Alers lives in a charming hamlet on Long Island.

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