REVIEWS [continued]
"Deep in the Heart is a rich tale by Sheila Morris of what it was like to grow up behind the Pine Curtain of East Texas...Rural Texas can be a difficult place if you're a little butch tomboy who wants nothing more than boxing gloves for Christmas and a chance to kiss a girl on the basketball bus. This is a story of "answers unspoken to questions unasked." But more than that, it's the author's elegy for the idea of family that grounds our hopes of home and happiness even when our lives take us further and further away."
~ Ed Madden, Founder and Producer, Rainbow Radio.
This well-written memoir takes us back to the 1950s and 60s, back to the South of the era when life was simpler and families were closer. Sheila Morris opens the door to the house in the town of Richards, Texas, and introduces us to a cast of characters that includes her beloved grandparents, her parents, and a host of other family members and childhood friends.
Along the way, she reveals her struggles, from a very early age, to come to terms with her “difference” revealed in her desire for boxing gloves instead of dolls for Christmas and comfortable pants instead of frilly dresses. She does this with humor and poignancy, allowing us to experience her deepest emotions, including her love for her family and her struggles with her sexuality.
Her more humorous tales include her crushes at an early age, a fall from a horse and a bump on the head that left her repeating the same things over and over again to the dismay of her parents, and a wonderful story that many of us can relate to, when she realized that Santa was really Uncle Marion (or in Morris’ case, she thought that Uncle Marion was actually Santa Claus).
The emotion in Morris’ stories runs just below the surface with threads connected to the very depths of our beings. Some stories are laugh-out-loud funny. All are complex and engaging. Baby boomers will enjoy the reminiscences about old TV shows, old songs, old traditions, and growing up during a time when life was less complicated and relationships with extended families seemed more intimate. Just one more thing: you don’t need to be from the South to relate to these stories. There is an every-lesbian quality to them than anyone can enjoy.
~ Reviewed by Anna Furtado, justaboutwright.com
“WARNING: Deep in the Heart is a bittersweet, funny, and triumphant tale of a different sort of girl in a uniform sort of world.”
~ Leslie Lange, author of Dyke Drama: Your Guide to Getting Out Alive
“In Deep in the Heart, Sheila Morris shows a deep and abiding love for her endearingly eccentric family. . . and her descriptions of the angst and yearning of a good girl cum budding lesbian will break your heart. If you grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, or you were raised in the South, or you felt love you couldn’t have, or you just like to laugh, spend an evening or two on the sofa after dinner with this wonderful book.”
~ Linda Ketner, social justice activist, leadership and management consultant, Charleston, S.C.
“What guy among us has not wished on a double date that he was with his buddy’s girl instead of his own? I have. But it never entered my heterosexual mind that my date might be wishing, as Sheila Morris did on the night of her Senior Prom, that she was with the other girl, too. It’s hard not to empathize with that kind of longing, no matter who’s doing it or why. Even so, after reading Sheila’s memoir, Deep in the Heart, I’m never going to double-date with her. She’s so likable and tells such good stories that I’d probably wind up going home alone.”
~ Robert Lamb, author, Striking Out and Atlanta Blues