Ellen Foster
cover of 1987 hardcover version of Ellen Foster
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| Author | Kaye Gibbons |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Vintage Press |
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Publication date
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1987 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 14167235 |
Ellen Foster is a 1987 novel by American novelist Kaye Gibbons. It was a selection of Oprah's Book Club in October 1997.
The novel follows the story of Ellen, the first person narrator, a young white American girl living under unfavorable conditions somewhere in the rural South.
The novel is not written in standard English. It is often grammatically incorrect (a egg sandwich, growed, etc.) and generally tries to render the language of a 9- through 11-year-old girl who, in spite of being clever and ambitious, is relatively uneducated.
The novel is most likely set in the late 1970s, due to the fact that Ellen states the following on page 48 when talking about her teacher-"She lived in the sixties. She used to be a flower child but now she is low key so she can hold a job."
Two time levels are intertwined throughout the book: one presenting Ellen's life from her present point of view, living with her "new mama"; and the other one telling Ellen's story from her mother's death and leading up to the present. The two time levels are united at the end of the novel, when Ellen is about twelve years old.
The reader can follow her life over the course of a bit more than two years. A sequel, The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster, was published in 2006. In the sequel, Ellen reveals that she lives in the sand hills piedmont region of North Carolina and that Ava Gardner's birthplace (near Smithfield, North Carolina) is down the road from her house.
Ellen is an only child who does not have a real home, even at the time when both her parents are still alive. Her father is "trash" and has a drinking problem, and the whole atmosphere is one of domestic violence. Her mother has a heart condition caused by "Romantic" Rheumatic fever and, when the novel opens, has to stay in the hospital. From an early age on, Ellen's thoughts center on how she could get rid of her father—she imagines killing him one way or another. When her mother is released from hospital Ellen's father treats her as badly as before, and it is up to Ellen to protect her mother from him. Soon, however, she takes an overdose of pills and dies while Ellen is lying next to her.
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