Kaye Gibbons – Ellen Foster (1988)

Bibliographical Description

88.05.W048: Gibbons – Ellen Foster

[underlined] ELLEN FOSTER | Kaye Gibbons | Vintage Contemporaries | VINTAGE BOOKS A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE | NEW YORK

72 leaves, pp. [12] 1-126 [6]

First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, May 1988

Contents: π1a author photo with blurbs, π1b blurbs, π2a half-title, π2b blank, π3a title, π3b imprint, π4a dedication, π4b blank, π5a epigraph, π5b blank, π6a fly-title, π6b blank, 1-126 Ellen Foster, χ1a about the author, χ1b blank, χ2a Vintage Contemporaries list, χ2b Vintage Contemporaries list continued with order form, χ3a blank, χ3b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Chris Moore; interior author photo by Jerry Bauer.

Copyright: © 1987. ISBN: 0-394-75757-2. Price: $5.95. Ellen Foster was first published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 1987.

Copies: JDP 1.2

Blurbs

  • (front cover) Ellen Foster is a southern Holden Caulfield, tougher perhaps, as funny….A breathtaking first novel. – Walker Percy
  • “When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” From the opening line of Kaye Gibbons’ startling, open-hearted novel, the little girl who calls herself Ellen Foster commands our respect, attention, and affection. Cast adrift after the deaths of her drunken father and sadly misused mother, Ellen moves from one woebegone situation to another until she finds a real home and a measure of wisdom through the graces of her “colored” friend, Starletta.
  • A stunning new writer…The life in this novel, the honesty of thought and eye and feeling and word! – Eudora Welty
  • Gibbons’ debut novel has a funny, quick release and an enveloping spell. A triumph of Southern voice…It has the integrity of an achieved vision. – James Wolcott, Vanity Fair
  • The story of a redoubtable girl who overcomes adversity with humor, spunk, and determination, Kaye Gibbons’ first novel is a work of considerable subtlety and intellectual sophistication. A terrific book. – Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

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