Girl Could Stand Up Book

Surprising and wise, A Girl Could Stand Up is a novel bristling with charm. Leslie Marshall's exuberant imagination enchants the reader, while a deep current of wisdom lends ballast to an exhilarating story. The result is one of literature's most unforgettable young heroines. On an outing to celebrate Elray's sixth birthday, her parents, Barkley and Jack, are killed in a freak accident in the Tunnel of Love. The day of their funeral, a pair of woefully unprepared uncles is sent in to care for her - Uncle Harwood, a macho, hard-drinking photographer who's always on assignment, and Ajax, a thirty-something cross-dressing uncle who prefers to present himself as an "aunt," form an unlikely but wholly lovable pair. But the beating heart of this novel is the love story that develops between Elray and her friend Raoul. Their secret adventures take them from the crypts of the Washington Cathedral to a life-threatening swim in the waters of the Potomac River in their search for invincibility. Marshall, a true storyteller, has created a world that is hers alone. This book is compulsively readable and ultimately uplifting. It is a testament to a new idea of family in its imperfect but shining state.