The Edge of Heaven (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Marita Golden (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ballantine Reader's Circle | Publication Date: August 3, 1999

In The Edge of Heaven, Marita Golden has fashioned a deceptively simple story of a family whose lives have been shattered by a single moment of angry carelessness--told through the eyes of Teresa Singletary, a twenty-year-old college student with an overwhelming emotional burden; her father, Ryland; and her mother, Lena, whose return to her own mother's home has precipitated a reckoning with Teresa. Together they all struggle to find a place to re-learn each other--somewhere that transcends the painful reality etched into their souls--only to discover that even the darkest tragedy is rivaled by love's transforming light.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Readers will be thoroughly pleased with Golden's new novel, which compassionately peels away the layers of a family's grief to reveal one woman's passage from repentance to renewal. Three generations of women struggle with the devastation of loss and the journey back to love as they head for a precarious reunion in contemporary Washington, D.C. There is Lena, the grieving mother and perpetrator of an unspeakable crime coming home to an uncertain future. And then there are Teresa and Adele, granddaughter and grandmother, carefully trying to move forward without expecting too much. These vividly rendered characters come to life, leaving the reader to cheer their strength and humanity. Highly recommended for all collections, especially those focusing on African American fiction.?Shannon Haddock, Bellsouth Corporate Lib. & Business Research Ctr., Birmingham, Ala.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

An acclaimed chronicler of black women's lives (And Do Remember Me, 1992, etc.) shows what happens when a good marriage goes bad. Set in the sophisticated milieu of black professionals living in Washington, the story is told by Teresa and her parents, Lena and Ryland. It begins on the day that Lena is to be released on parole from a women's prison in West Virginia after having served a four-year sentence for manslaughter. Teresa, who's been living with grandmother Adele ever since her younger sister Kenya died, hasn't told her chums or her boyfriend Simon the truth about her mother. Now in college and working as a summer intern in a Washington law firm, she viscerally dreads her mother's return. As the story moves back and forth in time, Teresa reveals how she's long felt torn between hating her mother for what she did and pitying her for what she had to endure. Before everything went wrong, her mother had been someone to admire: a successful accountant in a top firm and a loving mother and wife. Her husband Ryland, an artist who worked at home and took care of the two girls, had been especially close to Kenya, who shared his love for art. But as Lena's career flourished, Ryland's languished, causing friction that proved difficult to mend. The couple's quarrels turned increasingly violent, until Ryland finally moved out. His departure unhinged Lena, who started drinking and, in anger, accidentally pushed Kenya down the stairs. Even so, as Golden persuades us, these women can be strong on their own terms. Emotions run high--the plights of black (and white) women let down by men and the world are sharply etched--but telling insights soften the rage and give it balance. For Lena and Teresa alike, life will go on. Golden, in her fourth novel, is writing in top form. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: One World/Ballantine; 1st One World Ed edition (August 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345431723
• ISBN-13: 978-0345431721
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,154,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I think I came into the world called to write. I have been a passionate reader and writer since I was a child. Books and language have provided me with a way to live in the world with an enlarged sense of my possibilities. Writing has thrust my personal questions and inner dialogues into the public space. In the process I have inspired others and learned from them through my work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute pleasure!, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Edge of Heaven (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed The Edge of Heaven. I could not put it down. I am a big Marita Golden fan - I've read all of her novels. This book presents very intense human pain and suffering in a manner that is full of elegance and grace. Ms. Golden is able to deliver this subject matter, which is dead serious and quite harsh, as pleasurable reading. Quite a skill. Having recently read quite a few contemporary authors who seem to be only able to present characters in terms of detailed physical descriptions - complexion, hairdo, clothes, it was striking that there was no mention of what these people looked like, yet I felt like I knew them. I highly reccommend this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story, August 7, 2000

By 

Beryl Kalisa (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Edge of Heaven (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading The Edge of Heaven.It is a wonderfully told story basically in the first person as Theresa expresses her emotions once her mother has been released rom prision.Its a good read about how an incident can destroy a family and yet how the same incident can bring them back together. Theresa has to lea learn some hard lessons but the story ends in a beautiful and realistic manner. The author's description of even the prision is reala dn provides dignity to the characters.It was good reading a book about financially succesful African Americans. The book is also integenerational and a salute to African American females. I have read the authors Migrations of the Heart and A Woman's Place-both of which i enjoyed and look forward to reading Long Distance Life.Marita Golden is a gifted writer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully rendered story, January 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Edge of Heaven (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

This story was so good, I hated to see it come to an end. The language was so evocative and the characters so vividly drawn with plotting that was wonderfully paced ... I felt under a spell until the very last page.