The Year the Music Changed by Diane Thomas
It is 1955. Achsa is a lonely, passionate and precocious fourteen-year-old. Isolated at school by her intelligence and disfigurement, troubled at home by the undercurrents in her parents' relationship, she finds comfort and inspiration in the tunes and rhythms she hears on her radio. Hearing a recording by an unknown 20-year-old country singer named Elvis Presley, she fires off a fan letter, telling him she knows he's going to be a star. Insecure in the world he is entering, passionate about music and burning with a desire to succeed, Elvis answers her and enlists her help in teaching him how to talk good. The intimate, touching correspondence that follows chronicles Achsa and Elvis' coming of age as artists and individuals. Able to confide in nobody else, they share with each other their most private dreams and fears. Elvis becomes Achsa's sounding board as she watches her beautiful, distant mother and her sternly religious father lurch toward tragedy, confronts her own scarred mouth, and faces a shattering loss. The young singer's responses reveal his fierce, aching innocence in the year before his star burst forth and offer a fascinating glimpse into the grassroots history of rock and roll
“The Year the Music Changed may engrave itself into the memories of more readers than To Kill a Mockingbird…[It’s] the most satisfying novel I’ve read in many years” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Warm, lively, and immensely readable.” —Publishers Weekly “Sweet and gripping…A touching coming-of-age tale.” —Kirkus Reviews “A touching, funny, tender exchange between two people trying to find their way through thorny emotional terrain. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review) “I think it’s terrific.” —Pat Conroy, bestselling author “A nearly impossible feat of the creative imagination, defying the stigma of epistolary fiction and, better, defying the overpowering cliché of Elvis Presley.” —Raleigh News-Observer “Does the world need another book about Elvis? Maybe so, if it’s as good as The Year the Music Changed. Thomas pulls off the novel with panache.” —Columbus Dispatch
Diane Thomas has worked as Entertainment Editor of The Atlanta Constitution, a staff writer on Atlanta magazine and a freelance writer/editor. She and her husband divide their time between the north Georgia mountains and an island off the Florida panhandle. The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley is her first novel.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781935597773 |
| ISBN 10 | 1935597779 |
| Title | The Year the Music Changed |
| Author | Diane Thomas |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Amazon Publishing |
| Year published | 2011-06-24 |
| Number of pages | 258 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |