Buster Midnight's Cafe

by Sandra Dallas Narrated by Cynthia Darlow

Overview

New York Times best-selling author Sandra Dallas spins a moving, memorable yarn that transports listeners from rural Montana to 1940s Hollywood. Buster Midnight's Cafe is a compelling story of longtime friends, a shared past, and an act of violence that shatters innocence forever. "Entertaining . memorable characters bring Prohibition-era Montana to life . Ms. Dallas has a good feeling for story, character,and dialogue."-New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Narrator Effa Commander's rollicking reminiscences about movie star Marion Street and her devoted lover, champion boxer Buster Midnight, are recounted in a sharp and snappy voice that captures the reader's interest on the very first page of this amusing novel. Effa Commander and lifelong friend Whippy Bird shared childhood, adolescence, Prohibition and many other experiences with Marion and Buster in their hometown of Butte, Mont. They also know much more about the Hollywood scandal called the ``Love Triangle Murder'' than ever got into the papers, and Effa Commander has decided to vindicate her friends' misrepresented lives. Dallas's first novel depicts a remarkable cluster of enduring friendships that may strike the modern urban reader as implausible, but accurately reflect the flavor of a small town and its inbred relationships. If the denouement seems predictable, Dallas, whose work calls to mind Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe , is nonetheless a stylist to be reckoned with. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

YA-- A story of three tough, courageous women who stuck together. Effa Commander is now in her 70s but she vividly remembers her youth, growing up in Butte, Montana with her best friends Whippy Bird and May Anna. May Anna eventually goes to Hollywood and becomes a famous movie star and is involved in a notorious murder trial after her boyfriend, the heavyweight boxer Buster Midnight, kills a British actor, ending both the actor's career and his own. May Anna never forgets her friends, however, and sends flowers when Effa Commander's babies die and she loses her husband in the war. Whippy Bird's husband dies in that same war. Effa Commander paints a colorful, humorous, almost innocent picture of Montana, prohibition, and early Hollywood. A book that is truly offbeat but appealing. --Diana C. Hirsh, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, MD

From the Publisher

Country music between covers...Style, tone, and lesson in one succinct package.” —The Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Sometimes, sad, sometimes funny, but always right on the mark, this is a book about heritage, about friendships you will envy, about people doing their best, as well as their worst. Sandra Dallas has worked magic.” —Cathie Pelletier

“Entertaining...memorable characters bring Prohibition-era Montana to life...Ms. Dallas has a good feeling for story, character, and dialogue.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Undoubtedly one of the zippiest and most pleasant reads to come out this year... I read it the second time with equal pleasure just to make sure the magic was there. It is. It surely is.” —The Denver Post

“Compelling...charming...” —Vogue

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170964307
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	10/29/2010
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos