The Tender Silver Stars

by Pamela Stockwell

Overview

In 1972, change is sweeping the world, but it isn't coming fast enough to South Carolina. Not for Triss, anyway. She has always wanted to become an attorney, but her influential grandfather who raised her won't hear of it. She attempts to go it on her own-until she commits an impetuous act that threatens to derail her life. Everlove, the daughter of a working-class family, is not looking for change, but it finds her anyway. She has always followed the rules-until one day she doesn't and blows up the life she has always known. The women meet, become friends, and help each other find new paths forward. Can the two women build new lives from the ones they shattered?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645387381
Publisher:	Ten16 Press
Publication date:	04/24/2024
Pages:	412
Sales rank:	570,260
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

Pamela Stockwell was born in Texas and raised in South Carolina. In between, she lived in the Philippines and, along with her big sister, became fluent in Tagalog name-calling. She abandoned her foreign language studies at age five but went on to earn a BA in journalism from the University of South Carolina. She lives with her husband and three children on a small farm in New Jersey. She is a member of the Princeton Writers Group and Women's Fiction Writers Association. Her first novel, A Boundless Place, won the 2020 LBW Page 100 Writing Competition, and her poetry has appeared in Sparked Literary Magazine and Hope: An Anthology of Hopeful Stories and Poetry by TL;DR Press.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2024

In 1970s South Carolina, Triss Littlefield, the granddaughter of notable attorney Jeremiah Littlefield, is impulsive, though well-intentioned, an “impetuous troublemaker” according to the locals. When her grandfather refuses to allow her to attend law school, Triss leaves home, securing employment with the shady, miserly Horace Haine, a lawyer and landlord who Triss quickly grows to despise, thanks to his penchant for evicting hardworking but down-on-their-luck tenants. Before she knows it, Triss gives in to her urge to steal some of Haine’s ill-gotten money, changing the course of her job—and her future.

Stockwell (author of A Boundless Place) writes enthusiastically, crafting relatable characters and plausible situations that retain interest until the very last page. In the midst of Triss’s woes, she gives a ride to runaway Black bride Everlove Porter quite by accident, and the two end up as housemates in Triss’s trailer home, befriended by the spry, no-nonsense 83-year-old Mrs. McCabe, a neighbor across the street. The trio soon cook up a scheme to take on Haine and dispense of his money to those in need, launching Triss into a full-scale investigation of Haine’s activities. Her newfound independence is satisfying, but confusing at the same time, making Triss—and Everlove—entirely human and believable.

Though readers may see the ending coming, the story stays brisk and engaging, thanks, in large part, to Stockwell’s well-rounded, nuanced characters. Stockwell uses Triss’s precarious situation to explore the nature of her friendship with Everlove, during the early years following desegregation, when routine activities for Triss—like entering a store—are fraught with danger for Everlove. Triss’s growing awareness of this, and questioning of her own bias, lend depth not just to their blossoming friendship but also to the entire narrative. The result is a thought-provoking exploration of strong females and the relationships they form while negotiating their own empowerment.

Takeaway: A resonant story of friendship, courage, and female empowerment.

Comparable Titles: Suzanne Feldman’s Absalom’s Daughters, Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.

Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews