Hello! My name is Kayla Cook and I am the new Academic Support Coordinator for Writing on SJR State’s Palatka campus. I am also an historian. My current research focuses on the life and legacy of Maureen Starkey Tigrett, who was married to former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and, later, Isaac Tigrett, the famous classic rock memorabilia collector and founder of the House of Blues and Hard Rock Café franchises. As a result, some of the books I discuss in my posts here will be by, about, or (like this one) loosely related to some classic rocker or other, but I promise not to bore you with that all the time!
Recently, while perusing the Internet Archive, I stumbled upon a hidden gem which wasn’t related to my research, but which sounded interesting nevertheless: a YA novel in verse by Linda Oatman High, a writing teacher and author from Pennsylvania. High’s book, A Heart Like Ringo Starr, is told from the perspective of Faith Hope Stevens, the terminally ill daughter of a funeral director—very ironic, she notes. Faith is only seventeen years old, but she has a heart condition which will likely kill her before she reaches adulthood. She finds peace and a sense of hope through her relationship with her Great Aunt Mary (“the antique fairy”), a colorful, exuberant hippie who survived the Sixties but never really left those years behind her. Having inherited her great aunt’s love of classic rock and her peace-and-love attitude, Faith wishes for “a heart like Ringo Starr,” one that will be reliable and strong and keep perfect time for her.
This book is filled with all the bittersweet ironies of a terminal youth. Faith wants to enjoy things girls her age enjoy—like getting her nails done, traveling to Disney World with her family, visiting coffee shops, going to the prom, and playing in the snow with her little brother—but at the same time, she finds herself held back by her illness and the reminder that she will probably die before she gets to do everything she wants to do unless she gets a heart transplant. Moreover, she finds it difficult to talk about these concerns with her parents, who would rather ignore the emotional side of their daughter’s illness. In one poem, Faith wonders if she should compose a will, a suggestion which is met with some degree of criticism by her mother, who tells her she probably won’t have anything of value to leave behind when—if, she corrects herself—she dies.
If you think this book sounds sad, you’re right. It is. I cried at a couple different points while reading it; Faith’s pain and hope feel very real, and though Publishers Weekly criticized High’s “too-tidy ending” (in other words, a happy one), I thought it was a beautiful conclusion to a novel written for teens. There is a twist, though, so I won’t spoil that for you in case you want to read it for yourself, and I hope you will. It’s a delightful book.
If you are interested in reading Linda Oatman High’s A Heart Like Ringo Starr, you can find it free on the Internet Archive.