Velva Jean Learns to Drive

Book 1 in the Velva Jean series

Fiction & Literature, Coming of Age, Literary, Historical
Cover of the book Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven, Penguin Publishing Group
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Author: Jennifer Niven ISBN: 9781101057797
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication: July 28, 2009
Imprint: Plume Language: English
Author: Jennifer Niven
ISBN: 9781101057797
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication: July 28, 2009
Imprint: Plume
Language: English

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Holding Up the Universe and All the Bright Places (soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning), a spellbinding coming-of-age debut about ill-fated love during the Great Depression—and what it means to be a woman with ambition.

Velva Jean’s mother urged her to “live out there in the great wide world,” and growing up in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville. Then she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry.

Like All the Bright Places, hailed as a “charming love story about [an] unlikely and endearing pair” (New York Times Book Review), Jennifer Niven’s debut novel is a big-hearted story about the struggle to find happiness.

“A touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O’Connor, and maybe a shot of Hank Williams...Niven makes some memorable moon-spun magic in her rich fiction debut.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Holding Up the Universe and All the Bright Places (soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning), a spellbinding coming-of-age debut about ill-fated love during the Great Depression—and what it means to be a woman with ambition.

Velva Jean’s mother urged her to “live out there in the great wide world,” and growing up in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville. Then she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry.

Like All the Bright Places, hailed as a “charming love story about [an] unlikely and endearing pair” (New York Times Book Review), Jennifer Niven’s debut novel is a big-hearted story about the struggle to find happiness.

“A touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O’Connor, and maybe a shot of Hank Williams...Niven makes some memorable moon-spun magic in her rich fiction debut.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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