Full Description
Winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction
Fantastical, sensual, and as beguilingly strange as they are insightful and real, the stories of All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere are centered around intimate familial or romantic relationships, featuring protagonists who make awesome discoveries-from the beautiful to the horrible-in seemingly mundane situations. The protagonists in each story come from marginalized communities, which sometimes exacerbates their problems but always allows for unique perspectives and epiphanies.
A violinist nearly hits a bicyclist with her car on her rush to rehearsal, leading to a blissful affair and speculation about the effect of love on her violin playing. The whispering of schoolgirls leads a teacher to consider her own fears and failings. In the title story the nature of motherhood, fatherhood, and familial pride plays against a backdrop of death and high school theater.
These are stories of human frailty and newfound strengths, with surprising confrontations. The writing is rich and playful, whether the characters are coy or startlingly direct, creating worlds in which the metaphorical might become literal in the blink of an eye. DeMisty D. Bellinger finds magic in the smallest moments and makes the biggest moments resonate with a quiet intensity.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Part I
Black Girl's Magic
Acquiring Joshua
Dreams Formed in Rain
A Lost Day
Three Tiers of Toppings
Love Your Braider
Horse Sense
Brother Charlie's Intended
Part II
Awesome Everywhere
Trying to Balance
Jubilee
The Claimer of Bodies
Your Father Died
Part III
Tiger-Free Days
Ballad of Jane
Free Fish
Cat, Catfish, Cat
Tooth Fairy
Carry the Weight
Part IV
Ladybird, Ladybird
Whisper Network
The Ballad of Frankie Baker
Three Studies in Patience
Part V
Going Home
The Negotiation of Space
French Fry Soup
Good Fit
Part VI
We All Have Our Ghosts
Dancing Queen
All the Dreams You've Yet to Have
L'autunno
An Opossum Tale
