(Diane) Richards, a former background vocalist for Whitney Houston, debuts with an electrifying tale of Ella Fitzgerald in the years before she was discovered on "Amateur Night" at the Apollo Theater in 1934...Richards's research brings the sights and sounds of 1930s Harlem to vivid life, and she portrays Fitzgerald's troubling teen years with care and sensitivity. Readers will be grateful for the chance to feel so deeply acquainted with "The First Lady of Song." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"With Ella: A Novel, Diane Richards has blended her literary magic with the sonic boom of Fitzgerald's life, poetically resurrecting the great vocalist's journey, while also re-imagining the parts misunderstood or previously left blank. The result is not just a mesmerizing work of historical fiction, but also the rebirth Ella Fitzgerald truly deserves." -- --Kevin Powell, Grammy-nominated poet and Tupac Shakur biographer
Thank you, Diane Richards, for giving us Ella, a suspenseful and heart-wrenching novel. Ella Fitzgerald's mother, Tempie, saw what might be possible for her first-born when she instructed her to 'make something beautiful for the world.' Ella Fitzgerald certainly did that, as do you." -- --Sheila Williams, author of Things Past Telling
"An extraordinary novel about an extraordinary woman. I had no idea what Ella Fitzgerald endured - what a remarkable real-life CinderELLA story! Diane Richards' beautiful novel pays fitting homage to the First Lady of Song!"
-- --Brendan Slocumb, author of The Violin Conspiracy
"Diane Richards' Ella: A Novel is a gem ... superbly imagined, and convincingly rendered. The language sings. This is a page-turner that immerses the reader in Ella Fitzgerald's heartbreaking world of Depression-era Harlem, and its energy, its music, and its dancing, which fuel a young girl's dreams of stardom."
-- --Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of Our Gen
