A quirky, funny and quietly moving memoir that tells of a road-trip that a young American immigrant undertook with her boyfriend on a pilgrimage to Graceland, travelling across America on Greyhound buses, busking Elvis songs along the way.

Description

She Played Elvis is the story of a trip that Shady, a young American immigrant to Australia, undertakes with her Australian boyfriend to rediscover her homeland - which, after several years in Australia, doesn't necessarily feel like 'home' anymore. As part of the journey, the pair decide to make a pilgrimage across America, travelling on Greyhound buses, to get to Graceland for the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, with Shady busking and singing Elvis songs at cities and towns along the way. As they travel across America, memories of her past begin to surface and Shady realises that while she is coming to understand the meaning of 'home', she is also untangling the knotted threads of her difficult relationship with her estranged, erratic, unreliable and often violent father.
A moving, witty and original meditation on the idea of pilgrimage, family, home and loss, She Played Elvis is a classic road story and a journey of self-discovery set to an Elvis soundtrack; a story told with a clear-eyed, intelligent, unforgettable grace.

Reader review

"She Played Elvis is an engaging dissection of personal and national identity; and how we extract meaning from experiences... Shady Cosgrove’s writing style is intimate, yet unflinching and clear-headed." - Alisom McCallum

"A story of awareness and self-discovery, written in a very clever and witty way, an enjoyable read." - Cheryl Moulton

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