"Leave No Trace"

Randee Dawn is a Brooklyn-based author and journalist who writes speculative fiction at night and entertainment and lifestyle stories during the day for publications like the New York Times, NBCNews.com, Variety, The Los Angeles Times, and Emmy Magazine. Her debut novel, Tune in Tomorrow, was published by Solaris. Publishers Weekly said of Tune in Tomorrow: "Dawn balances over-the-top drama and comedy with genuine intrigue to create a fun story with plenty of heart." Lightspeed praised it as "an excellent read if you're looking for something to make you smile... well worth your time."

Dawn applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Leave No Trace, and shared the following:

If browsers open Leave No Trace to page 69, would they get a good (or an inaccurate) idea of the whole work?

Indirectly – yes. On page 69 we see one of the first collisions of the magical creature known as the Ghillie Dhu (the Green Man of the Forest in Scottish folklore); the human Lexi, who's grown up in the forests in the Rocky Mountains; and Stef, a songwriter who's come to the forest with her best friend, the spoiled pop star T.J. We also get a quick glimpse into the past of T.J.'s manager Tony, who has killed fae when he was in the military, and a sense that all humans have magic within them.

The page is surprisingly on point! It distills many, though not all, of the themes, characters, and issues all colliding in the book. The main story is about Lexi, Stef, and Tony – each of whom has a point of view in the novel – but they're all on their own journeys. There's a war going on between fae and humans over in Europe, and thanks to some of Tony's actions, it starts to come home to the States. Everyone has divided loyalties – will Lexi side with her best friend "Gil"? Will she bow to her paranoid father's fear of anything magic? And now that she's turning 18, what is it she wants from her own life? Meanwhile, several other characters are starting to learn about the specific magic they carry inside – and why the fae may want to use it for their own purposes.

There's also a big goddess bear in this story, Artio, who comes out of Irish folklore. She's also a forest protector, but I've given her an extra task: she can house souls. This works out well for some and not so much for others, but it means that while she was initially among the hunted in the forest, she can provide salvation for someone like Tony who has completely, utterly, messed up the biggest job he was ever given. Leave No Trace travels a lot of forest paths. Some go nowhere, and some go on forever. But it suggests you ask yourself: What would you do in this position? Would you side with magical interlopers? Or would you want the world to remain as it always has? And what would you do – if the bear chose you?

Visit Randee Dawn's website.

The Page 69 Test: Tune in Tomorrow.

Q&A with Randee Dawn.

My Book, The Movie: Tune in Tomorrow.

Writers Read: Randee Dawn.

My Book, The Movie: Leave No Trace.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Dying Cry"

Margaret Mizushima writes the award-winning Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She served as a past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is the recipient of a Colorado Authors League Award, a Benjamin Franklin Book Award, a CIBA CLUE Award, and two Willa Literary Awards by Women Writing the West. Her books have been finalists for a SPUR Award by Western Writers of America, a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Colorado Book Award. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado, where they raised two daughters and a multitude of animals, to a home in the Pacific Northwest.

Mizushima applied the Page 69 Test to her new book, Dying Cry, and reported the following:

From page 69:

After settling Robo with Brody, Mattie followed Stella to the table she’d noticed earlier where a man and two women were seated. These three were the only people who’d been at this morning’s team meeting with Tom. The man stood as they approached, folding his napkin and placing it on the table.

“Mr. Joel Taylor?” Stella said, offering a handshake.

“Yes,” Joel said as he shook hands. He was a good-looking man, maybe in his forties, with light brown hair trimmed short, a firm jaw, and an athletic physique. “You must be Detective LoSasso.”

“That’s right. I understand that you’re president of the main bank in Hightower,” Stella said, referring to a town about a half hour from Timber Creek. Since Tom had been manager of the local branch in Timber Creek, this man would be his boss. Stella turned to Mattie. “And this is Deputy Mattie Walker.”

He gave Mattie a firm handshake.

Stella turned her attention to the two women who had remained seated. “And are you the other two employees who were at the bankers’ retreat today?”

The elder of the two replied. “We are. I’m Elma Strickland, the bank’s vice president.” As she offered a fingertip handshake, she studied first Stella and then Mattie.

Elma appeared to be in her fifties, her brunette hair bearing dramatic sweeps of gray at the temples and graying strands throughout. Her skin appeared soft and without wrinkles, though her cheeks were rosy, likely

Page 69 is a good indicator of one of the roles protagonist Mattie Walker plays during the investigation of a crime in the rural mountain community of Timber Creek, Colorado. Mattie’s major role is that of K-9 handler for her German shepherd partner Robo, but when not searching for evidence or tracking down fugitives, Mattie will often assist Detective Stella LoSasso with witness interviews and suspect interrogations. The two work together along with other personnel from the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department to investigate crimes. And of course, Mattie’s K-9 partner Robo and her veterinarian husband Cole Walker also play a role in helping to solve each case.

In Dying Cry, Deputy Mattie Walker and her family are snowshoeing in a remote area when a shattering cry pierces the air, dying slowly as it echoes off canyon walls. Further investigation reveals a suspicious death, and the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s team springs into action, uncovering a trail of greed that leads to a killer who threatens Mattie’s cherished new family and tests her with the most difficult task she’s faced in her duty as a K-9 handler. 

Other scenes in the book depict Colorado’s snowy high country and plenty of outdoor action as Mattie and Robo try to track down a killer. If you like the outdoors, dogs, and whodunits, you might enjoy the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Dying Cry is book ten in the series.

Visit Margaret Mizushima's website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah, Bertie, Lily and Tess.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah.

My Book, The Movie: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Tracking Game.

My Book, The Movie: Hanging Falls.

The Page 69 Test: Hanging Falls.

Q&A with Margaret Mizushima.

The Page 69 Test: Striking Range.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist.

Writers Read: Margaret Mizushima (October 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hole in the Sky"

Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and the multiple New York Times bestselling author of techno-thrillers such as Robopocalypse, The Clockwork Dynasty, and The Andromeda Evolution (an authorized sequel to the Crichton classic). He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Masters degrees in Machine Learning and Robotics. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Hole in the Sky, with the following results:

From page 69:

I slow the car when I see the sign for NASA Johnson Space Center. I’m a little bit late, but that’s not such a bad thing. It’s better to give my escort some time to get inside and make an impression before I arrive.

Stopping at a security gate, I flash my badge to an armed, uniformed soldier manning the entrance. A dismayed federal marshal in a NASA security guard outfit sits next to him, looking dazed. The Army soldier is one of ours, sent ahead.

Page 69 of Hole in the Sky is the first page of the chapter called "Mission Control" — when two of my main characters meet for the first time. Gavin, the CIA weapons analyst, has been sent to investigate Mikayla, a NASA astrophysicist who has made contact with a strange object floating at the edge of our solar system.

It’s a fair introduction to special agent Gavin Clark, as he sweats through his shirt driving a rental car for yet another government mission. Although his job is pretty extraordinary—investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena—it’s actually pretty mundane and tiring to do this much traveling.

When Gavin actually meets Dr. Mikayla Johnson, the NASA astrophysicist is openly hostile to his point of view. This is the first time we see their clashing perspectives on what’s out there. Gavin is focused entirely on national security, and his instinct is to pull the trigger first and ask questions later.

What Gavin doesn’t know is that the entity has been speaking to Mikayla through the augmented reality glasses she wears to treat her face blindness. Gavin is frightened of first contact, but Mikayla is intrigued, excited, and can’t wait to meet whatever-it-is.

On the next few pages, things are about to get crazy as they realize the object has changed course and is headed toward earth at an incredible rate of speed. Once it lands in Spiro, Oklahoma, they’ll meet a local man named Jim Hardgray and the whole rest of this incredible adventure will unfold.

Visit Daniel Wilson's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Boy and His Bot.

The Page 69 Test: Robopocalypse.

My Book, The Movie: Amped.

The Page 69 Test: Robogenesis.

My Book, The Movie: Robogenesis.

Writers Read: Daniel H. Wilson (June 2014).

--Marshal Zeringue

"House of Hearts"

Skyla Arndt has always loved the creepy, crawly side of life. When she was younger, she thought that love might translate to hunting Bigfoot, but luckily for him, writing proved easier. These days, you can catch her writing stories by candlelight, splurging on candles for her office, and continuing to keep an eye out for Bigfoot (because you never know). She lives with her husband and three cats by the perpetually frozen Great Lakes.

Arndt applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, House of Hearts, and reported the following:

From page 69:

She’s a stray gust of wind down the corridor, her body so paper thin that she breezes forward without the slightest sound. I’m hypnotized by the arch of her heels and the sway of her tiptoes inches off the floor.

We enter a deserted parlor room, and the candles flicker upon our arrival. Velvet curtains billow down from the ceiling and sensuously frame a matching set of oxblood leather armchairs.

Beyond them, a fireplace sits untouched, the logs blackened behind an iron grate. Oleander Lockwell hangs like an omnipresent god above the mantle. In this painting, the gray strands from Sutherland Hall have won the battle; they dominate his hair and the fringes of his beard. He’s stern-faced and harsh in the low lighting, painted in the violent strokes of a hurried artist who couldn’t get away fast enough.

Emoree doesn’t spare the man a parting glance. Her attention is reserved for an object on an end table, her finger tracing a careful pattern in the air as she studies it. She breaks away the moment I get close and I can’t help it, my curiosity gets the best of me. I pick up what turns out to be a wooden labyrinth, a perfect miniature of the hedge maze outside. I brush my thumb across the careful ridges and chart the same path she did, starting in the clearing in the center to the exit, but I feel no residual warmth in her wake.

I don’t feel any warmth at all.

The body heat in the ballroom is a distant memory. What I’m left with is an icy pocket of frigid air. My breath clouds the late summer air, and I marvel at the ghost of it leaving my lips. It shouldn’t be this cold in here, but then again, Emoree shouldn’t be here.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect! I was 99% sure that I would randomly flip to this page and have nothing to show for it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is this one of my favorite scenes in the book, but the passage perfectly encapsulates the heart of House of Hearts (pun intended). House of Hearts centers around a girl enrolling in a private academy to follow in the footsteps of her dead best friend–and on page 69, you see my MC, Violet, literally following her dead BFF’s footsteps. Only a couple pages prior, Violet Harper had been dancing in the school masquerade ball when she spotted a horrifyingly familiar face in the crowd: the unmasked, spitting image of her friend, Emoree. Readers jumping to this spot in the book will find Violet trailing after Emoree’s ghost as if spellbound.

Beyond that, I think it gives a great sense for the type of atmosphere you will find in the book. What says spooky dark academia more than a ghost leading you out of a haunted ballroom into an abandoned study?

Visit Skyla Arndt's website.

Writers Read: Skyla Arndt.

Q&A with Skyla Arndt.

My Book, The Movie: House of Hearts.

--Marshal Zeringue

"For No Mortal Creature"

Keshe Chow (she/her) is a Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy, romance, and speculative fiction. Born in Malaysia, Chow moved to Australia when she was two years old. Her debut novel, The Girl with No Reflection, won the 2022 Victorian Premier's Literature Awards Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript and was shortlisted in the 2025 ABIA awards. Her new YA fantasy is For No Mortal Creature. Currently she resides in Naarm (Melbourne) with her husband, two kids, one cat, and way too many house plants.

Chow applied the Page 69 Test to For No Mortal Creature and shared the following:

From page 69:

He shot me a wary look, and I stared back, belligerent. What was he doing here? Why had he interrupted the physician? I was still trying to untangle his motives, when I was startled by a choked-off cry. This was followed by a strange gurgling noise. Something heavy landed on my legs.

Prince Essien’s eyes flared wide, and slowly, he turned his head. I raised my head, too. Only to see Larch slumped face down across my legs, blood soaking into the eiderdown, and—

Lin, standing behind him, holding that curved, bright-blue blade.

For a moment, I could only stare at his spectral body in shock. Then, the prince’s mouth dropped open, and I quaked. Scrambling up, the pulse in my ears thundering, I shoved the deadweight of Larch’s body off me. The corpse slid sideways and landed on the floor with an unceremonious thud.

“Careful, girl,” growled a voice, and I startled to see Larch’s ghost staring down at his dead body, frowning. He raised his gaze, piercing me with his disapproval. “You should respect the dead!”

Not stopping to answer him, I swung my legs off the bed and jumped to my feet. Essien Lancaster was staring down at the body of the now-dead physician. The prince’s face was puce, the muscles in his neck corded with tension. He’d lost the usual easy grace of his stance and was trembling with shock.

Lin’s face, on the other hand, was impassive. Almost smirking. I took in the entire scene within a mere fraction of a second. And then I noticed Lin, with the tiniest, most minute of movements, adjusting the grip of his knife. So subtly no one would notice.

No one but me, who knew him well. Or had known him well, once.

He drew back his arm to slash at the prince. For some reason, something within me snapped.

I think that this does capture many of the major elements of For No Mortal Creature. Namely, that there is death and evidence of Lin as being a morally gray character capable of murder. We have evidence of a ghost—that of the murdered man’s, who speaks directly to the main character and asks her to respect his corpse.

However, the aspect that this excerpt does not highlight is the romance that features in the book. The angst-filled romances between the main character, Jia Yi, and the ex-lover who betrayed her, Lin, are a huge driver of the story. Similarly, a burgeoning and tenuous alliance between Jia Yi and Prince Essien is also a significant part of the plot.

Lastly, this excerpt doesn’t highlight the main motivator for Jia Yi, the main character. The biggest thing driving her throughout the entire book is her desperation to save her dying grandmother, who isn’t mentioned on this page.

For No Mortal Creature is a dark, gothic young adult fantasy about a world where ghosts can die and become ghosts of ghosts. Jia Yi, a girl who possesses the gift of resurrection, must delve into the many layers of the afterlife to save her grandmother. However, to succeed, she must team up with her two mortal (and immortal) enemies: the ghost of Lin, the boy who once betrayed her; and the cold, enigmatic Prince Essien Lancaster.

Visit Keshe Chow's website.

Q&A with Keshe Chow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Call of the Camino"

Suzanne Redfearn is the #1 Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels: Call of the Camino, Two Good Men, Where Butterflies Wander, Moment In Time, Hadley & Grace, In an Instant, No Ordinary Life, and Hush Little Baby. Her books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and have been recognized by RT Reviews, Target Recommends, Goodreads, Publisher’s Marketplace, and Kirkus Reviews. She has been awarded Best New Fiction from Best Book Awards and has been a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist.

Born and raised on the east coast, Redfearn moved to California when she was fifteen. Currently, she lives in Laguna Beach with her husband where they own Lumberyard Restaurant. In addition to being an author, Redfearn is an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. When not writing, she enjoys doing anything and everything with her family—skiing, golf, tennis, pickleball, hiking, board games, and watching reality TV. She is an avid baseball fan. Her team is the Angels.

Redfearn applied the Page 69 Test to Call of the Camino with the following results:

I have always loved this test for how well it works. For whatever reason, page sixty-nine always seems to be highly indicative of what is at the heart of the story, and applying the Page 69 Test to Call of the Camino was no exception.

On page sixty-nine, Isabelle, one of the two protagonists, meets the love of her life, Peter, who she doesn’t know is the love of her life at the time, but their friendship and eventual romance is what will drive her storyline from that point forward. She also happens to meet him in a cathedral, where she is praying for the loss of two friends, and her relationship with her faith is also central to her journey.

Opening the book to page sixty-nine would give a reader a good sense of one of the underlying, driving forces of one of the two storylines. But since Call of the Camino is about two journeys along the path of St. James, it only gives a glimpse at half the book. It also does not show any of the Camino de Santiago, which is the backbone of the story. I think a reader might mistakenly believe, based on that single page, that the story is a romance and not the story of two women’s transformative journeys along an ancient, legendary trail told a generation apart.

Call of the Camino was inspired by my own experience walking the Camino de Santiago, a five-hundred-mile pilgrimage across Spain, and the characters were inspired by the amazing people I met along the way.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn (October 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Two Good Men.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (October 2025).

My Book, The Movie: Call of the Camino.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Silent Creek"

Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, IA, and got his first taste of publication in first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake Mills Elementary School’s Creative Courier.

He's a graduate of the University of Iowa and spent nine years doing media relations in the Hawkeye Athletic Department. He's also been a sportswriter, movie ticket taker and Dairy Queen ice cream slinger who can still do the little curly thing on top of a soft serve cone.

He currently lives in Rochester, MN, with his wife and two daughters.

Wirt applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Silent Creek, and reported the following:

Page 69 is the final page of chapter ten, a scene I really liked writing. There isn’t much action or suspense, so I wouldn’t say it’s a great example of what a reader would be in for, but I’d like to think it really fleshes out our characters.

It’s a scene in the gym where Jim is helping Kelli, the coach of their high school’s girls team, prep for the upcoming basketabll season, but Kyle shows up as a bit of a third wheel. He’s been hounding Jim to come on as his assistant coach for the boys team, something he has absolutely no interest in doing.

While It may not be a great example of the book, as a character building chapter it does a good job. The scene is a great example of the tug of war going on inside Jim’s head ever since he returned home. Kyle represents everything Jim wants to leave behind, while Kelli represents the future he’s always wanted. It also shows the pressure that Jim is feeling to be everything his hometown wants him to be. This struggle is what guides Jim’s actions for the whole book—for better or worse.

Visit Tony Wirt's website.

The Page 69 Test: Pike Island.

Q&A with Tony Wirt.

My Book, The Movie: Pike Island.

My Book, The Movie: Silent Creek.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Resurrectionist"

Kathleen S. Allen is a young adult writer of gothic horror, historical, fantasy, and speculative fiction. She has published poems, short stories, novellas, and novels. She prefers dark to light, salty to sweet, and tea to coffee. She is a fan of K-Pop, classic rock, and British detective shows. She loves gray, foggy, cool, rainy days; unfortunately she lives in Los Angeles which is usually sunny and warm.

Allen applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Resurrectionist, and shared the following:

On page 69 Dilly is interacting with a visiting professor, Victor Clerval who is an Anatomist based out of Scotland. Dilly finds out he knew her recently deceased father and is eager to learn more of what he knows about her father’s research. She also hopes to secure him as a sponsor to medical college since she is financially unable to pay for it. He considers it and tells her to use his name as a reference for applying to medical colleges. She is thrilled to being one step closer to her dream of becoming a surgeon like her father. Except his caveat is she must first find a college who will admit her and that is a daunting task since so few (if any) medical colleges admit women to study medicine with the idea of becoming a physician and none will admit a woman who wants to be a surgeon. But Dilly is determined to pursue her dream.

In part this page introduces the main character as someone with determination and scientific knowledge but it doesn’t address the resurrectionist part which is the crux of the book. This page shows Dilly to be serious about the medical profession, however it might lead to the browser to think the book was only about a Victorian young lady (although her age isn’t mentioned on this page) who is trying to become a surgeon. So, no, the Page 69 Test doesn’t work for The Resurrectionist.

The Resurrectionist is a young adult gothic horror reimagining of Frankenstein taking place in 1888 Victorian England. It’s about a seventeen-year-old young woman who dreams of following in her recently deceased father’s footsteps to become a surgeon. But aspiring to be a physician or even a surgeon is frowned upon in 1888. Victorian women are seen as inappropriate and unladylike to even want any career instead of being a wife and mother. Dilly defies societal rules throughout, breaking one after another until she only follows her own rules. Along the way she’s caught up in a tangled web of graverobbing, dead bodies, murder and scientific experiments gone horribly wrong.

Visit Kathleen S. Allen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Curse of the Savoy"

Ron Base is a former newspaper and magazine journalist and movie critic. His works include twenty novels, two novellas and four non-fiction books. Base lives in Milton, Ontario. Prudence Emery worked as the press and public relations officer at the Savoy Hotel, and later as a publicist on more than a hundred film productions. She is also the author of the bestselling memoir Nanaimo Girl (2020).

Base tasked DCI Lightfoot from their Priscilla Tempest mystery series to apply the Page 69 Test to the latest installment, Curse of the Savoy, with the following results:

Detective Chief Inspector Robert Lightfoot of Scotland Yard here. I play a supporting role in the four Priscilla Tempest novels, usually accusing Miss Tempest of some misdeed or other.

I’ve been asked to take charge of the Page 69 Test investigation, the mystery surrounding it, particularly since it has been revealed that the originator of the test is none other than that famed Canadian philosopher, Marshall McLuhan. Mr. Ron Base, the co-author of the novels, reports to me that he once spent an evening with Mr. McLuhan listening to his thoughts on media theory. He is still scratching his head.

Finding my way to page 69 of Curse of the Savoy, the latest novel in the series, I soon discover that I am not mentioned. More’s the pity. I’m quite an interesting chap.

On page 69, the book’s heroine, Miss Tempest, is preoccupied with the recent murder of a well-known young British diplomat, a cad of the first order. I am the lead detective on that case and since Miss Tempest found the body, I regard her as a person of interest and highly suspicious.

Miss Tempest heads the press office at London’s iconic Savoy Hotel and is a member of the Gossip’s Bridle Club whose other members consist of three of London’s most famous theatrical figures—the renowned playwright Noël Coward and the actors Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

On page 69, the club has convened to discuss the gossip of the day—who is failing in a dreadful play, who is sleeping with whom, and, on this occasion, who might have murdered the diplomat.

My examination concludes that the page in question succeeds by throwing the reader into the heart of the novel’s mystery and provides insight into the character of our plucky heroine. Miss Tempest is young, lovely, prone to attracting the wrong men, and getting herself into the sort of trouble that convinces me she is up to no good.

I was pleased to see that the page also touches upon the plot that drives the novel—a mysterious curse involving a black cat, a dinner party hosted by the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles, and the movie star Cary Grant, who, it seems, is attracted to Miss Tempest.

Ah, but the mystery …What is it about the magic of page 69 that draws in readers?

That investigation is ongoing.

Visit Ron Base's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"I Am You"

Victoria Redel is a first-generation American author of four books of poetry and six books of fiction. Her newest novel is I Am You. Redel’s work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in ten languages. Her debut novel, Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Redel’s short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O, and NOON among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. Redel is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate Creative Writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York and Utah.

She applied the Page 69 Test to I Am You with the following results:

I love the Page 69 Test because I’m a full-throttle believer that a potential reader should be able to open to any page in a novel and begin to tease out the threads that weave through the novel. So, I confess I was relieved to see that page 69 of I Am You stays true to my belief.

At the top of page 69, a scene where Gerta, a maid and narrator of the novel, which takes place in the 1600s, has revealed to Maria, her master and a masterful painter, that she has, in secret, taught herself to paint. She shows her new skill by boldly painting directly on a still-life of Maria’s. But true to Maria’s nature, she hardly flinches, instead moving forward as if this is not a revelation but an inevitability. Gerta reflects, “Her reaction was as I’d hoped. Pragmatic. She needed an apprentice. And she knew it. If she was annoyed by anything that morning, it was only that she hadn’t realized before me that I’d become her apprentice. Though, of course, that’s eventually what she told the others. That she’d taught her maid. That she’d done what no one else had done before and turned a servant girl into a painter.”

Over the course of page 69, a browser would encounter a few of the essential threads in the novel—the power current between the two women that keeps shifting throughout the book and the role of secrets. That secret, that Gerta is Maria’s assistant, also leads to greater intimacy between the two women, and a new facet of their relationship begins to emerge as Gerta emerges as a painter in her own right. The two women at that point in the novel have forged a union determined to increase Maria’s position in the male-dominated art world of the 17th century.

Visit Victoria Redel's website.

The Page 69 Test: Before Everything.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Man in the Stone Cottage"

Before turning to novel writing, Stephanie Cowell was an opera singer, balladeer, founded an outdoor arts series in New York City's Bryant Park, a Renaissance festival, a chamber opera company and many other things. She has lived in New York City all her life, indeed in the same apartment building for fifty-two years in the neighborhood (and sometimes down the block) where they filmed You've Got Mail. Cowell has loved England and Europe all her life and traveled there almost every year.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Man in the Stone Cottage, and reported the following:

Page 69 is one of those important scenes in a novel which I’d call place markers or linking scenes. It is from Charlotte’s point-of-view. It is a long shot which shows us the Brontë family at a celebratory Christmas dinner such as most families have. They speak of politics, the neighbors, they gossip and exchange small gifts and eat good food. Towards the bottom of the page, Charlotte draws back a little to observe how happy they are and then ruminates how to make enough money to keep them all in the house together, well-fed and contented. It then moves from the long shot to the closeup. By the following page, she is once more making determined plans.

Actually, I think page 69 and the family dinner scene is perfect to introduce the book. The moments of happy family are what they all yearn for (though the brother Branwell will wreck his part of it) and have too seldom.

For those who do not know the story of the real little Brontë family in 1844 Victorian England, they are living in a Yorkshire parsonage of the church where the father is the curate (priest-in-charge). Though there are three sisters and one wayward brother at the table, they feel the presence of their mother and two other sisters who died as children. Charlotte as the eldest was charged to keeping them altogether. But though she will of course within three years write Jane Eyre and make more money than she ever dreamed, happy scenes like this will not often come again. Grave sickness will end these dinners. And Emily while writing Wuthering Heights. will become more remote, involved with a man in a stone cottage on the moor who no one else has ever seen.

Visit Stephanie Cowell's website.

The Page 69 Test: Claude & Camille.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Book of Guilt"

Catherine Chidgey’s novels have been published to international acclaim. Her first, In a Fishbone Church, won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In the UK it won the Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her second, Golden Deeds, was a Notable Book of the Year in the New York Times and a Best Book in the LA Times. Chidgey has won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship and the Janet Frame Fiction Prize. Her novel Remote Sympathy was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her novels The Wish Child and The Axeman’s Carnival both won the Acorn Prize for Fiction, New Zealand’s most prestigious literary award. She lives in Cambridge, New Zealand, and lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Waikato.

Chidgey applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Book of Guilt, and shared the following:

From page 99:

‘No matter, no matter,’ said the Minister as Mother Morning blushed right through her face powder to the roots of her hair.

‘How was your journey down?’ asked Mother Afternoon. ‘Really rather pleasant, once we left the A4,’ said the Minister.

‘Ah, the A4,’ said Mother Afternoon, as if she travelled it regularly and knew its shortcomings.

‘Dreadful congestion around Chiswick,’ said Dr Roach. ‘You should ask the Prime Minister to do something about it.’

I thought he was joking, but his face was stony.

The Minister said, ‘Roading is on her radar, certainly. I’m so sorry I was late.’

‘Quite all right,’ said Mother Morning, waving an airy hand.

‘You could have driven down together,’ said William. ‘That would have saved time.’

‘Mm,’ said the Minister.

Mother Afternoon nodded towards the dainty sandwiches on the tiered cake stand and said, ‘They picked the watercress themselves, our boys.’

‘They’re most resourceful,’ added Mother Morning, handing a side plate to the Minister. ‘Fondant fancy?’

Only Mother Night was silent. I kept glancing at her, and I couldn’t shake the thought that she wanted to burst into tears – but perhaps that was just because I wasn’t used to seeing her in the daytime and understanding the way her face moved and changed in natural light.

The Minister ate one fondant fancy and half a sandwich. Mother Afternoon tried to persuade her to try the Dundee cake – she’d made special patterns with the almonds on top, and I knew she was disappointed to see it untouched – but the Minister insisted she couldn’t manage another bite, delicious as it looked. Being in the public eye, she said, she had to watch her figure. She held her hand over her side plate as if to deflect anyone attempting to slip her a piece of Dundee cake. ‘She’s in the newspaper,’ Mother Morning told Mother Afternoon.

Page 69 is pivotal to The Book of Guilt: this is the moment when the Minister of Loneliness visits a mysterious home for boys that she is charged with shutting down. The scene includes most of the major players – it’s narrated by Vincent, one of three identical triplet brothers who have grown up in the home, and readers get a good idea of how uncomfortable the boys’ carers – Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night – feel in the company of the Minister, who is just about to break the bad news. At this point, it’s all awkward small talk, but Dr Roach, who oversees the Sycamore Homes, is ‘stony’ – he knows what’s on the horizon.

This page gives just a hint of the unease that characterises the book – Mother Night’s silence suggests all is not well, as does Vincent’s slight confusion about her – but I think readers who consume the full novel will notice much more the pervasive sense that something is wrong, and the way it gradually intensifies as the story progresses. I loved turning the tension up and up, and I hope readers relish this aspect of the novel.

Mother Morning’s line ‘Fondant fancy?’ still makes me laugh, and is a small gesture towards the humour in the book. I hear my own mother in her voice – pretending at sophistication, offering some dreadful 1970s confection to a guest she wanted to impress.

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--Marshal Zeringue