Holly

by Albert French

Book Overview

A mesmerizing tale of passion, race and tragedy in a small mid-century Southern town by the acclaimed author of Billy. In Suppy, North Carolina, Holly is a young white girl from the wrong side of the tracks whose lonely, listless world is transformed when she falls in love with a black soldier. The town's savage response to their romance forces the lovers to attempt an escape and leaves no doubt as to the consequences of crossing prescribed boundaries...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670857467
• ISBN13: 9780670857463
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: The Viking Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

another great book on interracial relationships

this novel is more about a woman's coming of age in world war two south, then just about interracial relationships. her love interest, elias doesnt even come into the story until much later. but the effect he has on her is dramatic, making her realize that love is more than skin deep. the language mr. french uses is beautiful and does justice to the time and place the story is set in...

Absolutely wonderful!

This is possibly the best novel I have ever read to date. You can truly lose yourself in this story--Holly is your best friend, your sister, your child and your lover, all at the same time. Albert French's prose is so simple yet so eloquent--it demands to be read slowly, you can imagine the narrator sitting across from you on the veranda with all the time in the world to tell you his story. If you liked this novel then you must read "Billy" and "I Can't Wait on God".

poetry in prose

The beginning and the end of this book are brilliant. The beginning evokes time and place in a manner not unlike A Thousand Acres or a Faulkner novel: you can feel the dust, the heat, the hatred. No one is doing anything wrong, but goddamn no one is doing anything right either. And even though you know the end, you dread it while rushing to get to it. I would like to have known more about Elias, the black soldier who captures Holly's heart. I would like to have known more about the Hill family's reaction after the lovers' attempted escape. (I would liked to have known less about Holly's angst after Billy's death -- we got the point, let's meet Elias.) The issue which Mr. French tackles -- race relations between the sexes -- is so very sensitive, and yet Mr. French does not flinch . But I don't want to dwell so much on the plot, for as in most tragedies, it is predictable. Instead, savor the language and the poetry of the prose, for it is as lovely as the red flower Elias paints on Holly's turtle rock.

Wonderfull, gripping. I was mesmerised from start to finish.

This is a great book that I found impossible to put down.The dialogue, although alien to my way of speaking flowed beautifully. I was captivated throughout the entire book