“In their young adult novel, Tilly & Turp, Zona Soares and Gwylym Ford have together crafted nothing short of a modern classic. Imaginatively conceived and brilliantly transmitted in sparkling prose, it treats readers to a contemporary tale revolving around the traumatic coming of age of pre-teen Tilly and her profoundly multicultural cohort of creative female classmates in the Sa Joaquin Valley city of Fresno, California, the largest metropolis in the greater Central Valley. In reading this work, I was struck by how much it resonates with and complements that published in the past and present by such Fresno area writers of distinction like Armenian-American William Saroyan (1908-1981), Japanese-American Lawson Fusao Inada (1938- ), Mexican-American Gary Soto (1952- ), and Hmong-American Mai Der Vang (1981- ).”
–Art Hansen, Emeritus Professor of History and Asian American Studies and founding director of the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton
“One miracle is plenty for any novel, but Zona Soares and Gwyl Ford’s soulful, funny, poignant and celebratory Tilly & Turp, set in a public elementary school on the poorer side of Fresno, gives us a covey. Soares and Ford, somehow inhabit the minds of five 11-year-old girls — newcomer Tilly Foote and the Black, Hmong, Ukrainian and Filipina friends she makes in the fifth grade. There’s a snake in this Eden — a boy whose bullying prompts Tilly, the poet of the group, to write a curse that, to her horror, seems to come true. But good people help her heal — Tilly’s friends, her spunky single mother, an inspired teacher, a school janitor who sees everything, administrators who do their honest best, an old Italian neighbor. Nothing is harder to describe than a good person, much less a community of them, but such are Ford’s gifts that we believe in them all.”
–Michael Harris, book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times for 20 years, author of White Poison.
“Tilly & Turp is a perfect read for both young adults and adults. Its poetic prose can be read out loud or silently to oneself in moments of discovery and introspection. Teachers, a great book for the classroom!”
–Terry Sanville, writer and musician, author of The Misplaced.
“A whimsical, heartfelt story of the childhood I longed for.”
–Ivy Evans, age 18.
“Good therapy, says a 73-year-old grandpa.”
–Allen Smith
“The intergenerational threads of this novel deeply moved me.”
–Anna Gade
“Follow admirable journeys as young minds develop empathy, kindness and respect.”
–Judy May