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Continuing in the exuberant tradition of Six of One, Bingo, and Loose Lips, New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown returns to her much-loved fictional hamlet of Runnymede, whose memorable citizens are welcoming both the end of the Great War and the beginning of a new era. The night a riot breaks out at the Capitol Theater movie house - during a Mary Pickford picture, no less - you can bet that the Hunsenmeir sisters, Louise and Julia, are nearby. Known locally as Wheezie and Juts, the inimitable, irrepressible, distinctly freethinking sisters and their delightful circle of friends are coming of age in a shifting world - and are determined to understand their place in it. Across town, the well-to-do Chalfonte siblings are preparing for the upcoming wedding of brother Curtis. But for youngest sister Celeste, the celebration brings about a change she never expected and a lesson about love she'll not soon forget. Set against the backdrop of America emerging from World War I, Cakewalk is an outrageous and affecting novel about a small town where ideas of sin and virtue, love and sex, men and women, politics and religion, can be as divided as the Mason-Dixon Line that runs right through it - and where there's no problem that can't be cured by a good yarn and an even better scotch. With her signature Southern voice, Rita Mae Brown deftly weaves generations of family stories into a spirited patchwork quilt of not-so-simple but joyously rich life. Praise for Cakewalk "[Cakewalk] is brimming over with [Rita Mae Brown's] distinctive Southern voice that infuses every page with merriment, which allows her vibrant characters to take over the story and touch readers' hearts. Her depictions of the inhabitants and the era are pitch-perfect as are the many subplots. Readers will feel as if they are living in Runnymede; running around with the teenagers, eavesdropping on the matrons planning the annual cakewalk and hiding in the closet of the wealthy families. An utterly delightful story. " - RT Book Reviews "Brown has said that the Runnymede novels, starting with Six of One, are the ones she was born to write. . . . This is more loving domestic comedy of small-town life when times were simpler. Recommended for fans of Brown and beyond. " - Library Journal "Two independent and free-thinking sisters, Louise and Julia Hunsenmeir (called Wheezie and Juts) , push against the old-fashioned ways of drinking, dancing, and courting. . . . Characters were inspired by Brown's own mother and sister, adding realism and depth to this uplifting story. Fans of Amy Hill Heath and Mary Kay Andrews will eat up this multigenerational 'slice-of-life' novel. " - BOOKLIST "There seems to be no end to [Rita Mae Brown's] imagination, inventiveness, or storytelling artistry. . . . What is [Cakewalk] about Life, love, baseball, war, peace, good whiskey, fashion, sex, religion, friendship-all in a rollicking and lively story that just keeps rolling along at a brisk pace. Ms. Brown paints such vivid scenes. . . . [Cakewalk is] entertaining, outrageous, thought-provoking, nostalgic, and great fun. " - My Merri Way From the Hardcover edition. Show More
About the Author
Rita Mae Brown is a prolific American writer, most known for her mysteries and other novels () . She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter. Brown was born illegitimate in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her biological mother's female cousin and the cousin's husband in York, Pennsylvania and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Starting in the fall of 1962, Brown attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship. In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement. She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[3] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution. Between fall 1964 and 1969, she lived in New York City, sometimes homeless, while attending New York University[6] where she received a degree in Classics and English. Later,[when? ] she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts. [citation needed] Brown received a Ph. D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.Starting in 1973, Brown lived in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. In 1977, she bought a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia where she still lives. [9] In 1982, a screenplay Brown wrote while living in Los Angeles, Sleepless Nights, was retitled The Slumber Party Massacre and given a limited release theatrically. During Brown's spring 1964 semester at the University of Florida at Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the 1960s, she participated in the anti-war movement, the feminist movement and the Gay Liberation movement. Brown took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but resigned in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She claims she played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective in Washington, DC, which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression.Brown told Time magazine in 2008, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual. There may be a few people on the extreme if it's a bell curve who really truly are gay or really truly are straight. Because nobody had ever said these things and used their real name, I suddenly became [in the late 1970s] the only lesbian in America."