Last Summer On State Street Toya Wolfe
Hardback published by Merky Books 23rd March 2023
ISBN 9781529197594
State Street, Chicago, 1999. One summer that changed everything.
An unlikely trio, Felicia Fe Fe Stevens, daughter of a fiercely protective mother, Precious Brown, daughter of a prominent church elder, and Stacie Buchanan, daughter of a Gangster Disciple Queen – Pin.
They have a simple friendship, whiling away Sunny days with games of Double Dutch. But when Fe Fe invites mysterious Tonya into their fold, life as they know it will never be the same again. Last Summer on State Street is a profound coming of age story about the restorative power of community, the claiming of one’s own past, and the defining friendships which form the heartbeat of our lives.
MY REVIEW
Remember back when we were children, going to school, we would make friends by asking ‘what’s your name?’ This is how friends meet in this touching story. They were typical friends, being best friends, whilst on other days they didn’t get along, with each other.
They all Played a game with a rope singing. The four of the friends, always played the same game and sang the same songs.
All in together, any kind of weather
I see teachers
Looking out of the window
Ding Dong, the fire bell
January, February,
March, April, May, June, July…
All the girls that were friends, lived in flats with elevators, but the Chicago Housing Authorities would decide what buildings were in a mess to destroy first, with sending residents to buildings in other parts of the city.
The author, Toya Wolfe has written her debut novel based on where she was raised in the now demolished Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago South Side.
I do wonder if the story also reflects on her growing up, meeting friends, playing this game, singing the same song.
Although the author has written what she knows into this story Last Summer On State Street is definitely a special one that I recommend reading.
About author Toya Wolfe
Toya Wolfe grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes on Chicago’s South Side. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago. Her writing has appeared in African Voices, Chicago Journal, Chicago Reader, Hairtrigger 27, and Warpland: a journal of Black Ideas. She is the recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston-Bessie Head Fiction Award, the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation Short Story Competition, and the Betty Shifflet/John Schultz Short Story Award. Last Summer on State Street is her debut novel.
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