Book Details
Author: Ellen Everman
Hardcover: 168 pages
Product Dimensions: 6x9
Retail Price: $21.95
ISBN: 978-0-9798802-9-2
Book Description
If you’re a Baby Boomer, War Baby or just tantalized by the colorful 1950’s, this book is for you. If you enjoy hearing about the idyllic days of that economically-robust period when kids were free to roam away from home on foot or bike, when mothers were always there to help with homework and made sure to have a bountiful supper on the table by 6 P.M., when going to town was an event for dressing up, when church was a huge part of the community fabric, when fish fries and ice cream socials were as ubiquitous as the old faithful Nash and Studebaker, then read this … but not without an embroidered handkerchief.
It will make you laugh and cry at the same time.
At any age, this story captures the mind and soul. American’s finest modern era is recaptured in this heartfelt novel, offered in poetic prose, taking you back to a simpler time when the middle class burgeoned happily after WWII and when all was right… or almost right… with the world.
Reviews
Pink Dice by Ellen Everman is an absolutely wonderful experience. After reading this delightful story, I immediately did two things- read the book again and called a few close friends and told them I was sending them copies to read. Pink Dice is that good.
–Dr. John R. Powers, Broadway playwright and author
Ellen Everman’s Pink Dice brims with diverse angles and colorful characters. With nostalgic references to a mid-50’s Cincinnati and images of young baby boomers running freely through the woods and within their own imaginations, Everman had captured the 1950s in a compelling style. There’s a little something for everyone – girls coming of age, the bad boy who is really a good boy, a budding Southern belle, an introspective pre-teen, an imaginary alter-ego and a rooster called Mr. Shortcakes. The banter, the emotional roller-coaster of teenagers and the showing off to gain the attention of an attractive member of the opposite sex is timeless. Her description of Mary Lou as being “fifteen, going on Marilyn Monroe” makes a reader wish he were fifteen, going on Joe DiMaggio.
-–Jack Hicks, retired columnist, The Kentucky Post
No one makes Cincinnati sparkle like Ellen Everman in her novel, Pink Dice. Finally a book that describes greater Cincinnati’s special and unique qualities. To the person who passed through our city at night traveling north through the Northern Kentucky cut in the hill whereupon the city opens up fantastically: If it has occurred to you that Cincinnati resembles the fictionalized City of Oz, Ms. Everman will take that one step further. She’ll make you believe it is.
–Douglas Rowe
Praise
What can I say except that I loved the book; read every word with great care. The players came so clearly to me, and I could relate to them from my 50's life. Memories, memories and more memories: Kennedy funeral, the first TV after I entered Nursing School in 1952, the washer wringer machine replaced by the automatic; never a dryer though. My angora bobby socks, a gift from my babysitting days at Xmas time and my most treasured socks; saved for good. I didn't have a poodle skirt because my Mother told me not to depend on the latest fads; mine was shaped like a poodle skirt but was a white quilted skirt with black and red bumble bees and wide waist band with a tiny width black belt; I was a belt person but no more; my waist has grown. Crinolines; multi under the calf length party dresses; I had a blue sash on a embroidered dress but got the end of the sash in the toilet bowl at Bob's fraternity Dream Girl dance but still got the title of Dream Girl of PKI. Ice house is a great memory; going there as well as them delivering ice to the house. My life was of "Intersanctum and The Green Beetle", Burns and Allen via radio. A great book that doesn't have to have leud sex descriptions to be understood. A great book and I feel a Classic that will be on the best list and would be a great movie in a time of need to remember what was and could be in our generation. Loved it. We need more books of this time. -Ana
Loved the book! I couldn't put it down. I've passed it on already. The way you wrapped events and emotions around Patti Rae was brilliant. I could so imagine being there – feeling her every reaction and observation. -Rosemarie
Historic biographies are my favorite genre-so I was really captivated by the references of 1956 including clothing, music and even the sensor hose at the filling station. ( I'm glad you didn't mention American Bandstand in the book. That show went national in March 1957 out of Phila.) Since your book didn't include gratuitous sex or vulgar language this book might be enriching to teens and young adults-especially that segment who live in SW Ohio or N. Kentucky. They could get an appreciation of life in that milieu.-Tom
Author
Ellen Everman was born at Covington’s historic Booth Hospital, which sits at the edge of the Ohio River. Free to roam the woods with other Baby Boomers, she grew up in the once prim valley town of Fairview just south of Latonia, a Northern Kentucky city. She attended public schools and graduated with honors from the University of Cincinnati, receiving her Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in English in 1981. She has contributed both fiction and non-fiction articles in various publications, among them Arts Across Kentucky, The Sunday Challenger, and the Kentucky Post. She has traveled extensively throughout the country and abroad observing varying cultures and dialects. Tennis, dance, guitar, painting, and reading are her hobbies. Drawing from her collection of short stories written mostly about her youth, Ms. Everman has created this fictional novel that paints a vivid and unforgettable picture of the border town area known as Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati. Visit the author at http://www.pinkdicenovel.com