description: Set in South Philadelphia during the 1940s and 1950s, Tumbling combines the mood of an urban community with the vitality of its inhabitants to tell a story of the ties that bind us, and the secrets that keep us apart.Noon and Herbie are deeply in love and living in their tightly knit African American neighborhood. But their marriage remains unconsummated because of a horrible event in Noon’s past, so each seeks comfort Noon in the warm acceptance of the neighborhood church; Herbie in the arms of Ethel, a jazz singer. Then one day an infant girl is left on their doorstep, and later it happens again; this time a five-year-old girl is abandoned at their home. Suddenly and unexpectedly a family, Herbie, Noon, and their two girls draw closer—until an outside threat to run a highway through their community awakens a fire in Noon, causing her to rise up and fight to hold her family and her community together.
language: English
title: Tumbling Reading Group Guide
titlecomplete: Tumbling Reading Group Guide
genres: Historical, School, Literary Fiction, African American, Drama, Novels, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Cultural, Romance
ratings_count: 3486
publisher: Touchstone Books