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AILEEN
RIDINGS BENNETT
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The
Annie Chase Story As
fireflies jitterbug to cricket music, the girls prick their fingers,
sharing blood. "This makes us soul spirits, Jessie,"
Annie says, "our secrets are safe with each other forever."
Jessie tastes the words; they settle deeply into her being. In the racially-charged sixties, Annie Chase places a neatly printed "W" on her birth certificate in the space marked "Color or Race." The decision to become Anne Elinor Bradley changes her life forever and puts her on the path to exposure. Jessie Tyler, now a journalist with the prestigious Washington, D.C. magazine, Classic Magazine, receives a plum assignment that could supercharge her career: the chance to interview Anne Elinor Bradley, the potential First Lady who some suspect is passing for white. After their reunion, Jessie's childhood vow haunts her as she is faced with a decision that could change the course of history. The Annie Chase Story is a moving exploration of friendship, loyalty, and the secrets people share, sometimes painful to keep. |
| AILEEN RIDINGS BENNETT confirms she is a dyed-in-the-wool Southern-style writer who resides in Tennessee. Her column, "Life, Love and Laughter," was published in newspapers wherever she lived and was picked up by surrounding cities. The Annie Chase Story is her first novel and "is doing well," she reports. "The sequel, Emily - Shadow of Color is complete." Aileen's essays have appeared in Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, as well as other e-zines. |
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