The Firefly Dance

Four Novellas About Growing Wise and Growing Up

By: Sarah Addison Allen, Kathryn Magendie, Phyllis Schieber

Narrated by: Frances Fuller

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Bright lights flicker in the dark evenings of summer. Pinpoints of hope float against the black descent of night. The sweetest of small and innocent creatures finds its way through the shadows. Fireflies seem to dance on sheer air, illuminating the space between heartbeats.

Children give off a similar brave glow, despite the challenges of their young lives. The lessons of childhood are often painful, the shedding of fragile wings in the gloam of an uncertain future. These rich novellas are small jewels reflecting the essence of what it means to grow up dancing among the shadows of life, carrying a brave, small beacon because you know that even the brightest days always, always, end in darkness.

Childhood can be so sweetly sad and sadly sweet, profound and deceptively easy to categorize, yet poignant to remember.

New York Times best-selling novelist Sarah Addison Allen (Garden Spells, Sugar Queen, The Peach Keeper) anchors The Firefly Dance with her wistful and funny novella about Louise, a North Carolina girl whose keen observations of the lives around her weaves an unforgettable spell with just a hint of everyday magic.

Phyllis Schieber's Sonya, a child of Holocaust survivors, is confronted with the responsibilities of her legacy when she has a poignant encounter with a classmate, another child of survivors, and her mother, in a local shop in their 1970's New York neighborhood.

Kathryn Magendie's Petey deals wryly with her family's move from the cool blue mountains of North Carolina to the hot flatlands of Texas.

Augusta Trobaugh's stoic Georgia girl leads us through her surreal encounter with a mysterious backwoods toddler who turns out to be anything but ordinary.

©2011 Sarah Addison Allen, et al (P)2012 BelleBooks, Inc.

Fake Southern Accent Alert!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I know these were short stories, but every single one of them ended very abruptly and without any kind of closure. They kind of seemed pointless.

Would you be willing to try another one of Frances Fuller’s performances?

No way. Her fake Southern accent was TERRIBLE. She was trying too hard. As a person from the South, I found it almost unbearable.

Was The Firefly Dance worth the listening time?

No. I would recommend reading this one if you have the inkling..

Least favorite

This was the least favorite of all of her books. Too many disconnected stories. Did not finish. Didn't like the narrator.

Title is Misleading

The book bounced all over & was confusing for being 4 stories. Not worth the money

Firefly Dance has a wonderful variety

If you could sum up The Firefly Dance in three words, what would they be?

The variety is impressive and the delivery is excellent. I'm from the south, and I often cringe when I hear people trying to do southern accents. Sometimes, the narrator was absolutely channeling my well-educated southern mother and sometimes, she sounded like someone out of Deliverance. Not many people can do that. I also really enjoyed the dark almost Gothic quality of the story. I recommend this highly!

If you’ve listened to books by the authors before, how does this one compare?

For anything set in the south, this is the best I have heard, in terms of the accents. Other than the accents in the delivery, I think the variety in Firefly Dance makes it more interesting to listen to.

What does Frances Fuller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A lot of emotion. I really felt that she 'got' the characters. I enjoy listening to her.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both!!

Any additional comments?

I'd love to here more things read by Frances.

Nice!

Which character – as performed by Frances Fuller – was your favorite?

Petey was my favorite character and I think the narrator connected to her as well. These stories are presented as "growing up" tales but the themes are universal and already grown up. I really enjoyed the stories and the narration.