Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 WILLIAM | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In 1974 on her 21st birthday, Williams leaned that her father was probably the country-music star, Hank Williams. Ten years later, the ``lost baby'' began to investigate her heritage, the source of this amazing story. With freelancer Thomas's help, Williams details the singer's affair with her mother--Bobbie Jett--between his divorce from his first wife and marriage to a second. Days after Hank's sudden death in 1953, Bobbie bore a daughter who was adopted by Hank's mother but, upon her death, disowned by his sister. The child was then adopted by Wayne and Louise Deupree of Mobile, Ala., who play supporting roles in this drama. With Keith Adkinson, her lawyer (and later husband) Williams proved in court that Hank's kin had denied her parentage in order to claim his considerable fortune. Now with a singing career of her own, backed up by members of her father's band, Williams presents a necessarily one-sided version of events, somewhat marred by many complaints against her adoptive family, justified or not. Otherwise, her tale is as engrossing as a detective story. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Smartly paced, candid record of a young woman's straggle to discover the identity of her natural parents. The early life of Jett Williams was shrouded in mystery. Her birth certificate listed only the name of her mother, Bobbie Jett. Within a matter of days, Bobble herself disappeared, and the infant was taken in by the mother of Hank Williams, the Country Western star who had died only weeks before, apparently of drags and alcohol. When Williams' mother died two years later, after adopting the child she called Catherine Yvone Stone, the gift was placed in a foster home, then adopted by Wayne and Louise Deupree, a Montgomery, Alabama, couple with whom the child was never fully comfortable. When Cathy was 21, Louise Deupree hinted to her that Hank Williams might be her father. The young woman decided to find out the troth. What follows is an unsentimental tale that includes moving scenes of reunion with the foster mother whom the author remembered vaguely; a bitter confrontation, then reconciliation with Bobbie Jett's other children; legal skulduggery, greed, and ambition; frustrations and occasional triumphs. After having her paternity recognized by the courts, Jett decided to claim her share of the Hank Williams estate. The litigation continues and she is now intent on establishing a singing career of her own, backed by her father's band, The Drifting Cowboys. If she's half as good a singer as she is a storyteller, she should be on the charts in no time. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Hank Williams died in the first hours of 1953. Five days later, his companion Bobbie Jett gave birth to his daughter. When Hank's mother died in 1955, the girl Cathy was relegated to the welfare system. She knew nothing of her natural parents until age 21, when her adoptive mother told her she might be the daughter of a famous singer--information made available despite heroic efforts by estate attorneys to hide the child from the courts. Jett Williams (Cathy's stage name) here retells the painful process of adapting her identity to her unknown extraordinary origin. Her story is told well and is often touching, although it becomes mired on the inevitable road to litigation. Worthwhile. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/90.-- Tim Zindel, Hastings Coll. of the Law, San Francisco (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
