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Credit to Edward Mackenzie
A passionate story about how a tragedy can tear a family apart, Barbara J. Taylor’s Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night is an unforgettable tale, roughly based on true events. Set in 1913, the novel tells the story of eight-year-old Violet, who is wrongfully accused of killing her nine-year-old sister, Daisy. Their father, Owen, abandons his family after the incident, developing an unhealthy drinking habit to cope with the loss. Grace, the girls’ mother, turns to her imaginary friend, Grief, with whom she has an on and off relationship with since she was a child. As Grace’s emotions continue to tumble, and Owen’s alcoholism continues to rise, Violet lets circumstance impact her choices, as she begins to skip school and spend time with Stanley Adamski, a nine-year-old boy with no mother, who works in the mines as a breaker boy. Eventually, the broken family reconvenes as a treacherous storm passes through their town, and they are forced to live with yet another family tragedy.
Why We Love It: Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night is a fantastic novel worthy of the greatest accolades. Writing a book about a historical event can be difficult, as is crafting a bestseller, but Barbra J. Taylor is successful at both. The novel is hard to put down, and once you start reading you won’t stop until you reach the end.
About the author: Barbara J. Taylor is currently an English teacher in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountain School district. A Pennsylvania native, Taylor graduated from the University of Scranton with degrees in English and Education, and later received her Masters in creative writing from Wilkes University. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night is Barbara J. Taylor’s first novel.
– Gaelle Gilles