Rhythms

by Donna Hill

Book Overview

It all began in 1927, in the small town of Rudell, Mississippi, after the sudden and tragic death of Cora Harvey's parents. She has nothing left except her burning desire to become a singer. But her dream will never come true in Rudell, especially if she marries the man she adores, Dr. David Mackey. So when she sets out for Chicago, everyone in the close knit community, including David believes that the next time they see Cora, her name will be in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312300697
• ISBN13: 9780312300692
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Loved the book. Kept my attention

I love Books that take place in the south. I am from MS myself, born and raised. Throughly enjoyed the book. I am on book 2 "What Mother Nvr Told me." Book reflects on family, love, and truth. Families that were broken, but still loved one another and showed dedication, love and support for each other. Loved the book.

A Rhythmic Journey

Rhythms by Donna Hill is an intricately woven tale of three generations of women. Cora, the daughter of a Baptist preacher, has the voice of an angel. Cora leaves the small town of Rudell, MS to pursue her dream of becoming a famous singer. However, after a tragic event occurs, she returns to Rudell harboring a big secret. After giving birth to a white-looking baby, she is forced to live in shame and isolation. Cora's daughter, Emma, is an outcast because she looks differently than everyone else in town. As soon as she can, she runs away to live in New York as a white woman, figuring life would be so much easier there. Emma finally finds happiness and the perfect man. All is well until Emma becomes pregnant She is determined to do whatever it takes not to allow her secret to be exposed. Parris, Cora's granddaughter, inherits Cora's exceptional singing voice. Cora showers Parris with the love she was unable to give Emma. Parris also leaves Rudell for the big city to pursue a singing career just as her grandmother did years ago. Again, tragedy strikes, but this time, secrets are revealed instead of hidden. Rhythms is excellent novel that draws on all of your emotions. It is a book of lessons: lessons of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Hill's lyrical writing and descriptive prose transports you into the book alongside the characters. You smell the aroma of down home cooking and hear the rhythmic sounds of music of the times. Rhythms truly shows the scope of this esteemed writer's talent.TinaR.E.A.L. Reviewers

Three generations of rhythm

Three generations of dreamers face struggles in the rhythms of the Delta and the city.Cora.. gifted singer raised in church and encouraged to dream by her father, the preacher. She sets off to realize these dreams and is confronted with ugliness and her darkest hour.Emma.. she's labeled an outsider. Her disdain for her mother and her differences cause her to see an unusual way out of the Delta. She is confronted by her past and her true self.Parris.. the "last chance to make it right." A musical prodigy and strong woman, made so by the morals engrained in her while growing up in the Delta. She is confronted by the ghosts of her predecessors.Donna Hill has put together a fine novel, her growth as a writer apparent and almost blinding.Have you ever read a book that reached out and told you..."This is the book I've been waiting for" ...?In a nutshell, this is what Rhythms told me.

Feel the Rhythms

Picture it: Rudell, Mississippi, 1927. Cora Harvey, blessed with an incredible voice, that has only been used to give praise to God, has no home and no parents after they are tragically killed. She is left with nothing but a dream. A dream to see something more in the world than the narrow, segregated confines of Rudell. Nothing that is, except a man who loves her more than life itself. A man who loves her enough to let her go to pursue her dreams of making it big in Chicago.Cora, however, is like a fish out of water on the mean streets of Chi-town. After a vicious and horrific encounter with her white employer, Cora returns to Rudell, and David, wanting to do nothing more than to put the horrible past behind her. Fate, however, decides to play a cruel trick on not only Cora, but her daughter Emma as well.Emma, who has been blessed or cursed, depending on how you choose to look at it, to look nothing like her mother or her people. Deciding to 'cross-over' Emma leaves everything she has ever known in too-small, too narrow-minded Rudell to make it in New York, hoping to never been scorned for looking 'different.' There, after meeting the man of HER dreams, she also fights to forget her painful past. That is, until it also rears its head, in the form of her daughter, whom she practically drops on her mother's doorstep. Emma's been to the other side of the mountain and is determined to stay there, even at her daughter's expense. She doesn't even stick around long enough to give her child a name.Parris, so named by her grandmother Cora, heals many wounds for Cora and David. Parris has also been blessed with her grandmother's incredible voice and restless feet, and unknowingly follows her mother's footstep by moving to New York. There she meets the man who could be her one and only, except he's got some skeltons of his own rattlin' 'round the closet. However, just when she is poised to fulfill those dreams not only for herself but also for her grandmother, events call her back home to Rudell. What she learns there could change her life forever.Donna Hill has written a wonderful book with richly drawn characters. Her descriptions of Rudell will have you almost tasting the dust in the air, swatting the gnats away from your face and smelling some of that great down home cooking! It will make you smile and wish for a small community that knows everybody (and their business) but when needed, they are there for one another. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book that shows strength, wisdom and courage!

Captivating Story of Pride

The three books of Cora, Emma and Parris make up the novel Rhythms where you have four distinct stories of love. Stories that include the elements of pride, racial identity, class, forgiveness and dreams that unfold for better and for worse.During the 1920's along the Delta in Mississippi, Pearl and Reverend Joshua Harvey raise their daughter Cora with a staunch Christian upbringing. Cora, a gifted singer, has a desire of moving up north to pursue a career as a singer. Growing up, Cora is influenced by the likes of Bessie Smith and other infamous rhythm and blues singers of the time. Cora follows her dream, never having it materialize and returns to Rudell, Mississippi with a secret.Emma is the daughter that Cora bores. While not gifted with the voice of her mother, Emma too has dreams to move to the big city. Her dreams are in the form of living with freedom. Freedoms that are not afforded to "coloreds" at the time. Emma passes and lives a life of privilege after marrying a rich Italian military officer.Parris is the offspring of Emma who is blessed with the voice of her grandmother. Cora raises Parris in Rudell and she too has aspirations of leaving for the big city to pursue a singing career. Cora offers Parris the one thing that she did not give Emma as a child-a mother's love. Parris is the one that provides the strength and the destiny for the women and the men.Joshua, David, Michael, and Nick are the men portrayed in Rhythms. Each man is strong in his own way while providing the women in their lives unconditional love and support. The descriptions of Cora and Parris singing spirituals, blues, jazz and Nick playing the saxophone adds a natural vitality to the story. The historical elements and the descriptive prose of Rhythms offers the reader a chance to visualize Rudell and bright lights of Chicago and New York. Having family that originated along the Delta and visiting that area as a child made for an interesting and memorable read. Rhythms is a 5 RAW style!Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves

Visual array of emotions

Donna Hill has done an outstanding job with this novel. She takes you though three generations of women, all striving to obtain their dreams. The story begins in Rudell, MS then branches out to Chicago and NY. Secrets form and the characters try desperately to hold their lives together. You are reminded that not all that glitters is gold, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, and you can't judge a book by it's cover. The characters experience love, loss, disappointment, betrayal, and love refound. Donna Hill has a special talent which allows her to write in such a way that transports you into the story along with the characters. While reading Rhythms, I laughed and cried - felt joy and sorrow. I applaud Donna Hill for bringing this liteary work of art to the reading world!