This Side Of The Sky: Summary and book reviews of This Side Of The Sky by Elyse Singleton, plus links to an excerpt from This Side Of The Sky and a biography of Elyse Singleton.

An epic and touching story of two best friends charting their uncertain way through segregation and war, to love. In her funny, moving, and ambitious debut, Elyse Singleton introduces us to two inseparable and hard-minded idealists. Young Lilian endures the tribulations of Nadir, Mississippi, on the purity of her faith in people and her growing belief in herself. Her best friend, Myraleen, gets by on her sharp tongue and her unwillingness to give in-and perhaps because Lilian is always with her. In this lifelong story, Lilian and Myraleen struggle through dramatically changing times: From the stark realities of life in rural Mississippi, through the different sort of racism they find in workaday Philadelphia and France during World War II. For these women, the road to maturity in the messy American century is long and ragged. Along the way, Myraleen falls for a Tuskeegee flier and Lilian for a German prisoner of war. And each time they reassert their oldest ideals, everything they believe in is tested again--most of all what love requires in such a world.

Media Reviews

Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton has penned a lyrical, sweeping tale that soars on powerful wings. From the Depression-burdened South to prewar Philadelphia and across an America devastated by a common hatred, This Side of the Sky is an epic made real through the eyes of two friends and the men they love.   Library Journal - David A. Berona Although this book presents an informed glimpse of segregation before and during the war, the characters are never completely developed, and many events feel too contrived. All the facts are here but not enough of the feelings.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Ebony Johnson
Highly Overrated
It's hard to like the two main characters. Didn't draw me in at all. The author was trying too hard to be cute and lyrical. Seemed like a poor attempt to write for black audiences. Readers would do well to pick another book to read.

Rated of 5 by J Dicks
I just finished reading this novel and I enjoyed it very much. The characters seemed real and a lot of the history included in the novel was familiar because of stories I'd heard from family members raised in the south during the pre-WWII era. I...   Read More

Rated of 5 by AJ
What a wonderful book! I am an avid reader, all genres, whatever I can get my hands on. This book was one of the best I have read. I love the style of writing, as well, as the characters; so developed were they, I still think of them and I have...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Leslie Morganstern
Dear Reader:

I was dissappointed with This Side of the Sky. The cover of the book lured me in. Once I start a book I finish it. And I finished this one. But I must say that this fairly convertional story left me feeling flat. Some of...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Magdalena Gallegos
This Side of the Sky by Elyse Singleton is one of the best books I have ever read and I have been a reader all of my life. Her style of writing paints pictures in your mind while you are reading the story. You are there in the time and place where...   Read More

Rated of 5 by angel parades
This is a story of two young black southern women determined to make life work for them. It is written in a fresh, intelligent, witty and honest voice, compelling and beautifully crafted. Singleton is a wonderful storyteller. I am waiting for...   Read More

...3 More Reader Reviews

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