Synopses & Reviews
HASSIE CALHOUN, the first book of a trilogy, is a modern bildungsroman about a lovely, determined and talented teenager from the late 1950s/early 60s rural Texas, who flees a difficult family situation to seek fame and fortune as an entertainer in Las Vegas. Her beauty opens doors immediately, but leads only to a sybaritic lifestyle controlled by her brooding and dangerous lover, Jake, as well as drawing the attention of the powerful Frank Sinatra. Like the goddess Persephone, Hassie finds herself drawn alternately to the darkness and the light, finding joy and pain in both realms. When the road to stardom requires making some unacceptable compromises, Hassie must make the toughest decision of her life. The trilogy follows a good-hearted woman through her naive and mistake-ridden youth and culminates in a surprising old age in New York City and London.
Review
Award-winning Finalist in the Fiction-General and Fiction-Romance categories of the 2011 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards
Award-winning Finalist in the Fiction: Chick Lit/Women's Lit category of The USA "Best Books 2011" Awards
Award-winning Finalist in Fiction-Literary Fiction for the 2011 International Book Awards
Award-winning Finalist in New Fiction for the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards
"Author Pamela Cory delivers the perfect cocktail of hope and devastation in her latest novel, Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence. With one hand, Cory offers her readers untarnished hopes of the young and uninitiated, and with the other she delivers the inescapable realities of the real world and the people who live there
Hassie Calhoun is the perfect protagonist." The Nevada Review
"Nostalgia takes it on the chin in Cory's overdramatic but atmospherically pleasing debut...Cory's alternately gritty and sudsy depiction of early '60s Sin City transports the reader back to a time when the Rat Pack ethos ruled." Publisher's Weekly
"...a gripping story about an aspiring singer in 1960s Las Vegas. Categorized as a modern bildungsroman by the publisher, this poignant novel is a down-to-earth rather than idealistic glimpse of a vulnerable heroine learning how to succeed...and unfortunately, how to stop trusting people...Depicted with realism and tenderness, this exceptional protagonist should enchant readers in NYC and London in the second and third installments of this series." ForeWord Reviews
"[Pamela Cory] creates a riveting tale of Rat Pack era Vegas and the fate of many women driven for success and split by love. Hassie Calhoun is an exciting work of historical fiction, very much recommended reading." Midwest Book Review, July 2011
About the Author
Pamela Cory, born in Charlotte, NC, graduated college Summa Cum Laude with a degree in music, and spent 15 years as a cabaret singer, model and voice coach in the Southeastern U.S. before an interest in interior design led her to establish a business in London to source interior furnishings and artifacts around the world. HASSIE CALHOUN follows a young girl from small-town Texas whose dream is to see her name in lights. Although Pamela is not from Texas and never met Frank Sinatra, Hassie is deeply rooted in the author's own struggles and ultimately reflects her love of music and her strong ties to the entertainment industry. She is married to architect Steven Miller and divides her time between New York City and Dubai, UAE