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Author Cassandra Fallows has achieved remarkable success by baring her life
on the page. Her two widely popular memoirs continue to sell briskly, acclaimed
for their brutal, unexpurgated candor about friends, family, lovers—and herself.
But now, after a singularly unsuccessful stab at fiction, Cassandra believes she
may have found the story that will enable her triumphant return to
nonfiction.
When Cassandra was a girl, growing up in a racially diverse middle-class
neighborhood in Baltimore, her best friends were all black: elegant, privileged
Donna; sharp, shrewd Tisha; wild and worldly Fatima. A fifth girl orbited their
world—a shy, quiet, unobtrusive child named Calliope Jenkins—who, years later,
would be accused of killing her infant son. Yet the boy's body was never found
and Calliope's unrelenting silence on the subject forced a judge to jail her for
contempt. For seven years, Calliope refused to speak and the court was finally
forced to let her go. Cassandra believes this still unsolved real-life mystery,
largely unknown outside Baltimore, could be her next bestseller.
But her homecoming and latest journey into the past will not be welcomed by
everyone, especially by her former friends, who are unimpressed with Cassandra's
success—and are insistent on their own version of their shared history. And by
delving too deeply into Calliope's dark secrets, Cassandra may inadvertently
unearth a few of her own—forcing her to reexamine the memories she holds most
precious, as the stark light of truth illuminates a mother's pain, a father's
betrayal . . . and what really transpired on a terrible day that changed
not only a family but an entire country.
"Starred Review. [A] rich, complex journey from self-deception to self-discovery." - Publishers Weekly.
"Lippman's writing is powerful and her gaze unflinching as she invokes a world in which no one is either entirely guilty or truly innocent." - Kirkus Reviews.
This information about Life Sentences was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jim Burger
Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about "accidental PI" Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001.
Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.
She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade.
After ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Laura Lippman's Website
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