Third Girl from the Left - by Martha Southgate (Paperback)

About the Book

From the acclaimed author of "The Fall of Rome" comes a bold, breakout novel about the lives of three generations of African-American women, linked across time by the pull of desire and the transformative power of the movies.

Book Synopsis

At the center of this dazzling novel is Angela, a twenty-year-old beauty who leaves the stifling conformity of Oklahoma to search for fame during the rise of blaxploitation cinema in Los Angeles. But for her mother, Mildred, a strait-laced survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riots, Angela's acting career is unforgivable, and the distance between them grows into a silence that lasts for years. It is only when Angela's daughter, Tamara, a filmmaker, sets out to close the rift between them that the women are forced to confront all that has been left unspoken in their lives.

Bold and beautifully written, Third Girl from the Left deftly explores the bonds of family and the inextricable pull of the movies.

Review Quotes

"Gutsy and riveting...The best kind of page-turner, layered with so much authentic detail...What a wonderful story." --Julia Glass, author of Three Junes

"As intense and serious as it is fun and fabulous, Southgate...once again penetrates a hidden world with devastating accuracy." --ZZ Packer, author of DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE

"THIRD GIRL FROM THE LEFT is a powerful testament to mothers and daughters, and how differently we all dream." --Veronica Chambers, author of MISS BLACK AMERICA

"Martha Southgate's THIRD GIRL FROM THE LEFT is a marvelous combination of the movies that inspired it. . .elegant . . . electric." --Ayelet Waldman, author of Daughter's Keeper

"A compelling saga of love, film and family secrets...the three plotlines [Southgate] deftly weaves into a richly textured whole." Kirkus Reviews

"A graceful, insightful novel." --Lisa Shea Elle

"Third Girl From the Left gives us the flip side of Hollywood's glitz and glamour.....A gripping tale." --Margaret Williams, Essence

"Southgate makes [her] women imperfect enough to be interesting, but gives them enough heart so they're sympathetic...Delicious details abound." --Chelsea Cain The New York Times Book Review

"Vivid and spirited....Entertaining, occasionally racy and moving when you least expect it to be." --Stephanie Zacharek Newsday --