"Listen Closely: The History of a True Story" by Anthony Wade Florence
In “Listen Closely: The History of a True Story” (ISBN 1475058144), Anthony Wade Florence recounts his harrowing childhood escape from the 1960s black ghetto of Boston’s infamous Roxbury neighborhood into the wealthy suburbs of Western Massachusetts. Florence’s mom saw how grinding poverty killed, claiming the life of his twin brother with sickle-cell anemia. She vowed the increasingly violent neighborhood would not claim him and found a family with the means to raise him.
“She wanted me to be in a world where there was more privilege and opportunity,” says Florence. “I went to a place where pets were golden retrievers and sports had nets and balls.”
At the age of 7, Florence found himself straddling two worlds, commuting between his home in the ghetto and his newfound world with the Torrey family, an upper middle-class white family who lived in an estate filled with antiques. Mrs. Torrey would sing him French lullabies and introduce him to the sweet taste of real maple syrup. As a teenager, he would attend the finest prep school in New England, play tennis and lacrosse and roam the halls with the most affluent students in the nation.
Florence did his best to fit in, joining his classmates in a wide array of activities. Yet deep in his heart, he knew that no one else in his school would understand his solitary journey, which kept him shuffling between dire poverty, gilded wealth and two families. By early adulthood, it was as if Florence had lived two completely separate lives, jumping back and forth from the marginalized to the elite.
“I tried to fit in, but it was very complicated,” Florence says. “I joined them as brothers from playing sports to experiencing drugs and sex. But I still had to go through my life in the ghetto with the murder, deprivation and racial discrimination.”
“Listen Closely” is a one-of-a-kind memoir authored by a man who has the singular knowledge of what it means to jump out of dire poverty into a world of privilege few will ever enjoy. It veers from tragedy to comedy and navigates the inevitable cultural and racial clashes the same way Florence did: with humility, humor and a radical openness to experience.
“Listen Closely: The History of a True Story” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author: Anthony Wade Florence attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He currently lives in Panama City, Panama with his wife Cecy. He has three children.
MEDIA CONTACT
Anthony Wade Florence
E-mail:
Phone: (718) 865-8775
Website: www.listencloselyawf.com
REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
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Direct link: https://prnewschannel.com/2012/04/17/black-to-white-ghetto-to-suburb-authors-life-walks-tightrope-between-american-cultures/SOURCE: Anthony Wade Florence
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