Look Away No More
- ISBN-10
- ISBN-13
- 9798350912012
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2023-09-14
- Publisher
- Reynolds Street Press
- Author
- Carol Owens Campbell
Description
In "Look Away No More," a novel of manners and war, passion and first love, decorum and protests, a sorority girl from Georgia has something to say. Tally McCall, a Georgia debutante, trophy-winning majorette, and member of the Chaucer Sorority at Hamper University, is also a history scholar. Hamper University, Georgia's oldest coastal college, is on the cusp of summer while other colleges are on the cusp of anarchy, ablaze with protests against the Vietnam War. Tally, the only daughter of a prominent Southern family, wants to be nominated for an award to earn a graduate degree at Oxford University. Her competitor is her friend, a brilliant young Black man who would make an outstanding, pioneering and revolutionary choice. Yet wouldn't a "girl" also be a revolutionary choice at a time when Rhodes Scholars were not allowed to be female? Tally's brother, whose birthdate was the first chosen in the military draft lottery, serves in Da Nang. He hasn't written in months. Her parents are on edge. Her sweetheart, a handsome Yankee she met on a Spring Break Cruise, hasn't written her either. Tally tries to keep spirits high. She struggles, however, upon learning that her friend, the twin of her competitor, is desperate to escape the draft and needs her help. She worries about the legal consequences. Her father is a Federal Judge. On May 4th, 1970, the killings at Kent State University in Ohio shock Tally and spark her passion for justice. The night of the tragedy Tally is named the Military Queen at nearby Fort Hamper. She must decide how to be true to herself and honor the victims of Kent State, who were her peers, while accepting her new title from a surprise guest in a ballroom full of soldiers. Tally must also discover ways to navigate through landmines of country club society, stay true to her ideals, and seize the power of her privileged status to challenge the status quo. If Dickens had written "A Tale of Two Campuses" and Chaucer had written "The Ingenue's Tale," the combination might celebrate a witty, romantic, brilliant girl during a time of unrest who is determined to prove her abiding creed that "A knowledge of history is the key to survival."
