Song in Ursa Major, Emma Brodie, Knopf – Jane Quinn and her band, The Breakers, are thrown into the spotlight when the headliner is a no-show for their island’s 1969 annual festival.
Diane Slocum
Diane Slocum has been a newspaper reporter and editor and authored an historical book. As a freelance writer, she contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers. She writes features on authors and a column for writers and readers in Lifestyle magazine. She is assigned to write interviews of first-time novelists and bestselling authors for Authorlink®
Interview: Grieving Designer Finds New Life in Unlikely Relationship
The Very Nice Box, Laura Blackett & Eve Gleichman, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – Ava was already devoted to her work designing boxes for a home goods company – but she had Andie. When Ava’s parents and Andie died in a car wreck that she barely survived, she closed down her world even more.
Intreview: Celestial Magic of Former Slaves Helps Find a Murderer
The Conductors, Nicole Glover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – When Hetty and Benjy were conductors on the Underground Railroad much of their success was due to their ability to use magic to get the escaping slaves and themselves out of sticky situations.
Interview: Impersonation Gets Complicated in The Summer Job
The Summer Job, Lizzy Dent, G P. Putnam Sons – In her 30s, Elizabeth “Birdy” Finch is at loose ends and doesn’t know where to turn next. Her friend, Heather, has problems of her own, but at least she has a career as a top-notch sommelier.
Interview: Author Struggles With True Black Identity in a Loving White Family
Raceless, Georgina Lawton, Harper Perennial – Georgina Lawton grew up in England with white parents, a white brother and white everyone else. No one wanted to talk about why she didn’t look like the rest of them.
Interview: Making it to the Top May be the Quickest Way to Hit Bottom
Black Buck, Mateo Askaripour, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – Darren Vender was the valedictorian of his high school class, but he is satisfied with his life living with his mother in Bed-Stuy, hanging out with his girlfriend Soraya, and managing a Starbucks in a high-rise office building
Interview: One Single Minute Changed Minnie’s Life
This Time Next Year, Sophie Cousens, G.P. Putnam & Sons – Minnie Cooper grew up absorbing her mother’s message that all her bad luck started when she was born one minute after the first baby of the year who not only got the prize but stole her name which was supposed to have been Quinn.
Interview: Orthodox Debut Novel Brings Wonder and Tragedy
The Orchard, David Hopen, Ecco – Ari Eden spent his life in Brooklyn attending a Jewish school that focused on religion until just before his senior year.
Young Japanese Girl Struggles for Identity in WWII
Fifty Words for Rain, Asha Lemmie, Dutton – Eight-year-old Nori is dropped off by her mother at the estate of the grandparents she never knew she had. For three years, she lives in their attic, suffering acid baths to lighten her skin and beatings with a wooden spoon.
Interview: Refugees Struggle to Lead Normal Inside Camp
Silence Is My Mother Tongue , Sulaiman Addonia, Graywolf Press – Saba, her brother, Hagos, and their mother are refugees from the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. They live in a mud hut in a refugee camp.
