Smith, Andrea (Andrea Michele Smith)

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Smith, Andrea (Andrea Michele Smith)

PERSONAL:

Born in Brooklyn, NY; children: one son.

ADDRESSES:

Home—GA.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fellowships from Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and New York Foundation for the Arts.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Friday Nights at Honeybee's, Dial Press (New York, NY), 2003.

The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, Dial Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Andrea Smith's debut novel, Friday Nights at Honeybee's, is a story of friendship formed in the Harlem brownstone boardinghouse of Honeybee McColor, where jazz, food, and soul food come together twice a month. The story is set in the 1960s and is based on fact. "This tremendous story will take you back to a time when jazz was in full swing," wrote Stacey Seay in R.A.W.SISTAZ Review, "and carry you through to a time when the music form became overshadowed by its more contemporary musicians."

In the novel, Viola Bembrey, the beautiful daughter of a South Carolina preacher, flees for New York after she is driven from her church and her town because of a brief extramarital affair. Up until this point, she has met expectations, singing in the church choir and marrying a man approved of by her father. It is her discovery of music in a little blues shack in the woods that changes her life, and when her affair is discovered, a friend slips her a note with the name and address of her twin sister, Honeybee McColor, who was also born and raised in Jasperville, and whose life in Harlem is discussed in whispers.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn-born Forestine Brent must count on her voice rather than her looks in order to rise in the world of jazz. She has suffered an unpleasant child- hood, being criticized by a mother who dotes on her older daughter, but her father, Willie, recognizes her talent and introduces her to Nick, a retired blues musician who helps her get a gig at a local bar. Forestine and Viola ultimately meet at the Big House, where Viola is finally able to establish her independence and Forestine's singing career is propelled forward by her performances at Honeybee's and local clubs, and her discovery by a jazz great who becomes her mentor.

Sharon Hudson reviewed Friday Nights at Honeybee's for MyShelf.com, calling Honeybee and the other characters "a hoot." Hudson felt that Smith does "a wonderful job of bringing in the essence of blues and jazz into the story…. The melding of fiction and reality make for an interesting read." Hudson noted that the inclusion of actual performers in her story proves "that Ms. Smith did her homework."

Smith told Cydney Rax in an interview for BookRemarks.com that her father was an amateur jazz musician and that her aunt, Stella Timmons, was married to jazz musician Bobby Timmons, whom she includes in the story. "Though I grew up with jazz in my life," said Smith, "when writing the book, I had to immerse myself in the world to try and capture the flavor. Ultimately, the book is less about jazz and more about the two women and their journey of self discovery. But still, trying to understand the 1960s jazz scene to write about it articulately, was very challenging."

Smith, who was born in Brooklyn, now resides in Georgia with her son. She told Rax that, as a child, she was able to make the rare trip from her home to Harlem, which she described as "very colorful and large. Also it was the mecca of the black arts. Harlem was as much of an oasis for me as the Big House was for Forestine and Viola."

Reviewing for Book-Remarks.com, Rax wrote that "with a cast of characters as compassionate as they are unique, this unforgettable novel overflows with energy, heart, and humanity." In reviewing the novel for Decaturdaily.com, Emily Love wrote that "if you don't consider yourself a jazz or blues fan, reading this book might change your mind. Andrea Smith describes a song in such detail; you can almost hear the music." Love felt that Friday Nights at Honeybee's leaves "a few loose ends that make the reader crave one more chapter," but added that "I don't think anyone will be disappointed." Booklist reviewer Michele Leber commented on the "warmth and caring" that helps both women through difficult times, calling Friday Nights at Honeybee's a "wonderful celebration of music and community."

In her second novel, The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, Smith took on child abandonment, adoption, and the laws that surround these issues. The story begins in the mid-twentieth century in South Carolina. A group of fishermen find the dead body of an infant near the riverbank. The discovery shocks the community of Three Sisters, an African American enclave near Charleston, and there are calls to find the mother of the dead child and exact justice from her for the abandonment. Yet one woman, Bonnie Wilder, points out how desperate the mother must have been to commit such an act, and suggests that instead of trying to punish her, they should establish a place where troubled mothers could leave their children if need be, without fear of condemnation or reprisal. After making that public statement, Bonnie, who has no children of her own, finds herself the recipient of numerous abandoned babies. The law requires that she should give them to the authorities so that they can be placed in new homes through legal channels, but Bonnie and some of her friends circumvent the law and secretly place the abandoned babies with homes they feel are appropriate. Bonnie's yearning for a child of her own adds poignance to the plot, "but despite the painful issue at the core of this story, Smith is also particularly good with light comedy," reported Ron Charles in Washington Post Book World. "The squabbles among the Blackberry Corner women are sprinkled with wry humor, and a rocky romance between Bonnie's prickly best friend and the good-natured postman is charming." The story unfolds to show how Bonnie's unconventional acts of charity resurface to haunt her three decades later, when an adopted woman shows up looking for information about her birth mother. Vanessa Bush, reviewing The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner for Booklist, called the characters "deftly drawn" and said that they "exude the warmth and intimacy" of the author's small-town setting.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, July 1, 2006, Pat L. Simmons, review of The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, p. 39.

Booklist, December 15, 2002, Michele Leber, review of Friday Nights at Honeybee's, p. 734; May 1, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review of The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, p. 73.

Ebony, July 1, 2006, review of The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, p. 32.

Washington Post Book World, May 28, 2006, Ron Charles, review of The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner, p. 7.