41 pages 1 hour read

Silver Sparrow

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

Silver Sparrow, written by Tayari Jones and published in 2011, is a family drama set in 1980s Atlanta. The novel was a Women’s National Book Association 2011 Great Group Read and was chosen as one of the top 10 books of the year by Library Journal.

 

Plot Summary

 

Silver Sparrow revolves around Dana Lynn Yarboro and Chaurisse Witherspoon, who are half-sisters, although only Dana knows this.

 

Dana, 16, narrates the first half of the novel. Dana has grown up knowing that her father, James, had another wife and child when he married Gwen, her mother. Gwen was a giftwrap girl when James started pursuing her and paying for her coffee. After Gwen got pregnant, James was unwilling to divorce his first wife, and so they were married in another state.

 

As Dana Lynn grows, so does her awareness of James’s unusual role—James spends one day a week with her and her mother—and she realizes her place in James’s life is as his other daughter. She grows jealous of Chaurisse and the careless intimacy she has with James, and her curiosity leads her to seek out Chaurisse for a look, a chat, or a friendship. Dana engineers ways of encountering Chaurisse in various situations, and eventually, Dana comes to like her.

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