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The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
“This summer’s first romantic page turner.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Named a most anticipated book for Summer 2013 by The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly and USA Today, NPR, and People summer reads pick
From the author of The After Party, a lush, sexy, evocative debut novel of family secrets and girls’-school rituals, set in the 1930s South.
It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.
Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.
From the Hardcover edition.
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“What makesYonahlossee emotionally engaging in its own right—this summer’s first romanticpage turner—is Ms. DiSclafani’s sure-footed sense of narrative and place, andher decision to portray her heroine, Thea Atwell, in all her complexity:fierce, passionate, strong-willed, but also selfish, judgmental, andself-destructive. By setting the novel in 1930, as America teeters on afinancial cliff, and the days of debutante balls and fancy-dress parties seemnumbered, Ms. DiSclafani has tried to situate the rarefied world her charactersinhabit in a real-life context, even as she gives the reader some well-observedglimpses of the lifestyles of the rich and not-so-famous…By cutting back andforth between the events that took Thea to Yonahlossee and her experiences inschool, Ms. DiSclafani methodically builds suspense, making the reader wonderhow Thea’s two romances will unfurl, and whether they will dovetail or collide…Thereader’s attention rarely wavers, thanks to Ms. DiSclafani’s knowledge of howto keep her foot on her story’s gas pedal, and her sympathy for her spirited,unbridled heroine.”
— New York Times
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“Thea Atwell is an unforgettable heroine, and DiSclafani’s pitch-perfect details of time and place effortlessly drew me into this fantastic novel’s authentic and alluring world.”
— Laura Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chaperone -
“Sparkling…DiSclafani’s transporting prose recalls that uneasy time at the brink of adulthood, and reminds us that even the most protective parents can’t keep the world at bay.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is no one-trick phony. Even as Thea keeps wetting her lips to tell us the unspeakable truth, we’re lured into more complex and provocative aspects of her story…The novel’s most daring aspect [is] its winding exploration of adolescent sexuality…DiSclafani is a crafty mistress of…pious conventions. Her heroine must confront the old harlot-or-saint choice, but she won’t ultimately accept either role. Here is a young woman coming to understand the varieties of sexual experience—from abuse to delight—without renouncing her desire…Sensing…harsh judgment from home and school and world, Thea concedes, ‘I’m not a right girl.’ But she’s fearless, and she’s riding to win.”
— Washington Post -
“DiSclafani’s writing is smart and sexy, and her characters are flawed and worth knowing as they navigate through life and don’t always make the wisest decisions.”
— NPR -
“The tone of the novel’s opening pages is hushed and portentous, as DiSclafani creates an atmosphere of spooky anticipation and foreboding. So vivid are DiSclafani’s descriptions that one can almost feel the humidity in the air, taste the famed Yonahlossee iced tea, see the gorgeous vistas of Blue Ridge Mountains around the camp.”
— Boston Globe -
“DiSclafani is an insanely talented writer—her precise period details and lovely descriptions of riding and adolescence have a spellbinding effect.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“There’s much to enjoy here: clear, concise writing, lushly drawn settings, compelling choices of time and place.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“A captivating story of shame, blame, and family secrets.”
— USA Today -
“Boys may be boys, but girls—well, their coming-of-age can be more complicated. Anton DiSclafani’s vivid, beautifully written novel explores the consequences for Thea, a headstrong Depression-era teen who is banished to a posh southern school after a family tragedy.”
— Parade -
“DiSclafani’s mastery of pace and mystery and her skilled evocation of the atmosphere in sultry Florida and the crisp Carolina mountains make this an uncommon first novel.”
— Dallas Morning News -
“Engrossing, empathetic, and atmospheric, this debut will resonate with readers as the author eloquently portrays the inevitable missteps in coming of age.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“A lush, gothic tale well served by Adina Verson’s southern drawl and deliberately paced narration. Her reading has a hypnotic quality, drawing the listener in.”
— Booklist (audio review) -
“Set in the 1930s, full of alluring descriptions, and featuring a headstrong lead character, this is a literary novel that is also full of scandal, sex, and secrets…Readers will be held in thrall by the world so vividly and sensually rendered here in a novel that is as sophisticated in its writing as it is in its themes.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“In elegant prose that evokes the cadences of a vanished epoch, DiSclafani unfolds at a leisurely pace…An unusually accomplished and nuanced coming-of-age drama.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Awards
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Selected for the June 2013 Indie Next List
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About Anton DiSclafani
Anton DiSclafani grew up in northern Florida, where she rode horses, competing nationally. She graduated from Emory University, and received her MFA from Washington University. She currently lives in Saint Louis, where she teaches creative writing at Washington University.