About the Book: Ella
In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut
novel, a magnificent work of "biographical fiction" that reimagines the
turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest
singer of the twentieth century. When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgeralds mother
dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the
mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the
"ungovernable" adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for
Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of
inmates, especially Black