Ella written by Diane Richards was truly an inspiring and powerful read. Ella is a work of fiction, even though some characters and events have counterparts in Ella Fitzgerald's life, this story is the authors imagination, it should NOT be read as a biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Despite this book not being Ella's biography, I think everyone needs to read this at some point because it truly is inspirational and eye opening. I knew this story was going to be extremely difficult to read at times, but I didn't think it was going to destroy my soul the way it did. Certain parts of this book were super slow at times, but all in all it was an amazing experience reading Ella. The only thing that kept nagging me was I wanted more of Ella's success. When I saw that beautiful cover, I knew I had to get my hands on this book and I'm so glad I did because it truly opened my eyes to so much I never knew about. Ella wasn't in my time frame, but I've heard her songs from time to time and I heard bits and pieces of her story. Ella Fitzgerald truly is an icon, she's an inspiration to so many across the world, Ella's legacy will continue to live on. I have no words that will give this book the justice it deserves, but all I can say is that everyone needs to read this book immediately.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND AMISTAD FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!!

?TRIGGER WARNINGS?
-Alcoholism
-Death of a Parent
-Gun Violence
-Physical and Emotional Abuse
-Sexual Abuse
-Racism

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong". -Ella Fitzgerald

At age fifteen, all Ella Fitzgerald wanted to do was dance her heart out, but growing up in the time of poverty and hard times, Ella's mom wanted her to stop dancing and help rack in money for their family, the last thing Ella said to her mom was "I hate you", a few hours later Ella gets picked up from school early because her mom unexpectedly passed away. Ella's mom, Tempie was in a car accident one day when she was trying to move children out of the way from an oncoming car, from that accident Tempie suffered back problems and that made standing for a long time really hard for Tempie, but Tempie didn't die from this car accident. At the height of the Depression in 1932, fifteen year old Ella goes to work for the mob to support her and her family, but the law finally catches up to Ella and she is sent away and incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls, this training school is a wicked prison infamous for it's harsh treatment of inmates, especially black ones. Ella is determined to be free from this hell hole, so one day she escapes and finds her way back to Harlem where she dances on the street for pennies trying to rack in money so her family has a roof over their heads and food on the table. Ella did everything she could for her family, but her step father was disgusting, where do you get it's okay sexually assaulting a fifteen year old right after her mom died? Absolutely disgusting.

While reading this book, it felt I was right there by Ella's side as she was facing these hardships, I just wanted to reach into my kindle and give Ella the hug she deserves. Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century, she paved so many ways for millions of female artists and Ella has changed the music industry tremendously. Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". It really broke my heart when Ella said she was scared to preform in a certain crowd of people because of the racial slurs they would throw at her as she was preforming on stage. Although Ella had her flaws, her story was truly inspirational and taught me so much about her life story. Despite the slowly moving parts of this book, in the end it was understandable as to why those parts were extremely slow. after reading the prologue, I had to go watch Ella's CBS interview, it truly broke my heart hearing Ella say she was so scared to preform in front of an all white crowd. Ella is an icon, and she will continue to be an icon in today's world even though she is no longer with us. I waited a bit long to read this book because I was scared of the emotional damage it was going to cause, but I'm so happy I finally read it because it opened my eyes so much. Yes, it really did cause emotional damage after reading, whew, I was expecting it, but it did more damage than I was actually expecting.books-read-in-2024149 s72 comments Meagan?132 576

?"Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” -Ella Fitzgerald?


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