Atlanta authors talk about their latest books and invite us inside the writer’s life.
BY Suzanne Van Atten
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Ben Rollins
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK FAR
to find the perfect page-turner for your beach read this year.
Seven authors with Atlanta ties have new novels coming out before the fall. Some are seasoned
pros who produce a book nearly every summer, and one is a first-timer making her fiction debut.
All of them are women, and one thing their books share in common is a strong, complicated
female protagonist. Their characters may not always make the best decisions, but the women
at the center of these novels have agency to make their own choices and figure their ways out of
challenging situations.
In their own words, here’s what the authors have to say about their new books and the writing life.
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Karin SLAUGHTER
THE LAST WIDOW
Anissa GRAY
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY GIRLS
Joshilyn JACKSON
NEVER HAVE I EVER
Susan Rebecca WHITE
WE ARE ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE
Jessica HANDLER
THE MAGNETIC GIRL
Mary Kay ANDREWS
SUNSET BEACH
Patti Callahan HENRY
THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER
Patti Callahan HENRY
The New York Times best-selling author has written 15 novels, including last year’s
historical novel, Becoming Mrs. Lewis NEW TITLE The Favorite Daughter
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
How a fractured family comes to heal through memories that were both lost and found.
CENTRAL CHARACTERS
Colleen Donahue. She’s in her 30s. She has had a terrible betrayal by the two people closest to her, sister and her fiance, and she has spent her life protecting herself from that pain.
THEMES
It’s about how memory defines who we are.
WHO WOULD STAR IN THE
MOVIE VERSION?
Amy Adams
EAGER TO READ
Everybody in this article. I’m not kidding.
FAVORITE BOOK OF 2018
The Lost Queen by Signe Pike
FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOK
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
BEST THING ABOUT BEING A
WRITER
The tribe. The readers and the other writers
HARDEST THING
The middle of the book. It’s the time you think you can’t do it this time. It’s always the time you think you’re wasting your life and your time.
CURE FOR WRITER’S BLOCK
For me, because a long time ago I read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, I’ve redefined writer’s block. I call it resistance. When I’m stuck, I try to find ways to break through or get around it by filling back
up the well, whether it’s by taking a walk in nature or reading somebody else’s beautiful work. Sometimes, I’ll read poetry.
WRITING ADVICE
I think it’s really good for new writers to know our books don’t come out the way
they see them. They don’t see all the work, the edits, the dead ends.