Ginny Eastman was six years old when her older brother, Asher, handed her a basketball, starting her athletic journey in 1966. Despite her petite stature, Ginny discovered an innate talent for bouncing and running. In a time when few girls dared to dream of playing basketball, Ginny was smitten. However, her aspirations faced an unexpected challenge when juvenile diabetes entered her life, threatening to shatter her dreams.
Undeterred by her body’s betrayals, Ginny pressed on. Growing taller, though not tall, she encountered bouts of self-destructive behavior in high school. With no professional women’s basketball leagues in sight, Ginny, deemed “a girl obsessed” by her father, needed a backup plan.
Sugar Free chronicles Ginny’s unconventional journey through the decades. Blessed with a talent lacking a clear outlet and hindered by a medical condition, Ginny navigates creative paths to satisfy her burning desire to rule the court. Follow Ginny as she confronts the limitations imposed by her body, societal expectations, and the absence of a traditional path, determined to carve her own extraordinary legacy.
This book has won two awards: a November 2024 International Impact Book Award and third place in the 2024 International Firebird Book Awards, both in the Contemporary Fiction category.
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“Robin D’Amato injects her characters and their world with real situations that reflect the limitations and mindset of the times. As relationships grow with boyfriends, friend Tilly, and others who reflect the times with their own special interests, readers gain a multifaceted, full-bodied story steeped in the culture and revolutionary ideas that motivate the characters in different ways.” —D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Robin D’Amato’s Sugar Free highlights all the best parts of a coming-of-age, slice-of-life story. The story is character-driven, which suits the simple narrative wonderfully. Readers are not given anything outside of Ginny’s point of view, and we get to watch her mature and experience different aspects of life through the years as if one of her peers. This only supports the story’s pacing, and no stone is left unturned, as Ginny investigates life for herself.
“One of this novel’s shining features is its attention to detail and realism. If you’re not regularly dealing with a condition such as diabetes, it is easy to overlook something that has seemingly become more common place to handle in recent years. . . . Ginny’s reactions to this diagnosis as a seven-year-old also feel very honest, showing her own confused journey to acceptance, as well as her parents’ mixed reactions.
“Ginny’s genuine interactions and bond with her friends at every stage of life, over life’s little intricacies, add another layer of humanity to D’Amato’s story portrait. I enjoyed the story’s capacity to show that a character can or has changed, but at heart they still retain who they are.” —Audrey Davis, Independent Book Review
Sugar Free by Robin D’Amato is a literary fiction novel that chronicles the life of Ginny Eastman, a girl with a passion for basketball in the 1960s. Despite her small stature and a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, Ginny refuses to give up her dream. With no professional women’s basketball leagues and her own personal struggles to face, Ginny fights to overcome societal and physical obstacles to forge her path to sporting glory. Her journey is one of resilience, determination, and self-discovery as she navigates a world that often leaves little room for women in sports. D’Amato has a keen sense of balance and social critique that lends itself to this powerful exploration of gender roles and the limitations imposed on women’s athletic dreams in the 1960s.
When we think of sports fiction and nostalgic dramas, we so often land squarely on male stereotypes and typical stories of masculine success, so when Ginny bursts out of this novel with all guns blazing in her passion for basketball, it’s a breath of fresh air that revamps the genre and shows so many new and exciting possibilities. The author’s writing style is rich and introspective as a result of this unique perspective, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in Ginny’s emotional journey as she meets obstacles head-on and they feel every moment of physical hardship and emotional triumph. Ginny’s struggle with juvenile diabetes is a brilliant and tender addition to the narrative that makes her perseverance even more inspiring. Robin D’Amato skillfully balances the themes of physical limitation and personal ambition without ever idealizing her struggle or putting her on a pedestal. She is very much a real girl with real dreams; so much so that readers will sometimes forget this is a work of fiction and want to find out where she is now in her sporting life. Overall, Sugar Free is a brilliant novel about sporting ambition and also a universal tale of resilience that I would highly recommend.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite
“D’Amato renders Ginny’s inner landscape with profound empathy and psychological acuity. A basketball phenom constrained by both biology and circumstance, Ginny emerges as an uncommonly captivating heroine, her journey through the minefields of American girlhood in the late 20th century as suspenseful as any last-second, game-winning shot. Sensitive but never sentimental, Ginny’s testimony is shot through with wry humor and hard-won wisdom: ‘Diabetics don’t die; they are taken out in pieces.’
“…An unconventional, elegiac sports novel, SUGAR FREE is a profound and often heartbreaking meditation on passion, perseverance, and the sacrifices required to forge an unorthodox life. Author Robin D’Amato has created an indelible heroine in Ginny Eastman.”~Edward Sung for IndieReader
Robin D'Amato 