Hello readers,
As we enter March, I hope you find ways to remember and honor the women who’ve shaped our country and our world, the innovators and the moral voices who fought for a freer and fairer nation. This photo is from a recent trip to Montgomery, Alabama that deepened our understanding of the bravery of Rosa Parks, whose actions one afternoon on a bus electrified and changed an entire city. There is an array of civil rights memorials and museums across Montgomery that tell the savage story of slavery, the Civil War, the segregation that followed, and the men—and women—who worked at great peril to address these wrongs. If you get a chance to see these sites, I hope you’ll take it.

I’m so grateful for the reception you’ve given my new book. Thank you. And I’m SO IMPRESSED by all the folks who manage to write a review without giving away the twist—well done, guys! Our event calendar is coming together and as more people read The Florentine Entanglement, I’m realizing it’s gonna get a little tricky to have a book discussion and not give the story away.

My next event is at the Sandy Springs Regional Library on Saturday, April 11 at 2:00 p.m. Moderated by Raven Wilson of the Hot Olive Agency, we’ll discuss how this novel came together and the history it tells, and explore some thoughts on the craft of writing. Bring your books and I’ll sign ’em! I’ll also have copies to sell, but remember, you can always borrow from the library. The Sandy Springs Branch is located at 395 Mount Vernon Hwy NE in Atlanta, 30328. We have two more bookstore events lined up outside Atlanta. I’ll send that info along when it’s finalized. You can always check my website for event updates. And remember to reach out here to arrange for me to come to a book club discussion of my novels. It’s my favorite thing to do!

In honor of Women’s History Month, here are some book recs from a pair of historical fiction authors—writers I know and respect. World War Two buffs, these are for you. As a child, author Jacquie Herz fled with her family to London as Hitler rose in Berlin. Her books, Circumference of Silence and Hanna Bloom, Dream Juggler, explore in beautifully perceptive prose how the aftershocks of war and the Holocaust linger, complicating families and lives long after the guns fall silent.

We’re familiar with tales of the French Resistance, the high-stakes, often deadly work of individuals and families intent on thwarting the aims of the occupying Nazis. Barbara Pronin’s captivating novel, Winter’s End, tells the story of three women of the Dutch Resistance. Based on real events, the bravery of these three will astonish and inspire you. All three books are available online everywhere.

Finally, I’ve posted a new blog about writing—of the importance of finding good writers who can tell you the brutal truth about your work-in-progress so it gets better. You can read a mini version of this essay in the March eQuill newsletter of the Atlanta Writers Club.

“A woman is like a tea bag,” Eleanor Roosevelt once said. “You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” So here’s to all those strong women of history who endured the hardest of circumstances and the hottest water to improve the world around them. May we do likewise.
Pam