"The Perfect Mother"

Aimee Molloy is the author of the New York Times bestseller However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph and the co-author of several non-fiction books, including Jantsen’s Gift, with Pam Cope.

Molloy applied the Page 69 Test to The Perfect Mother, her first novel, and reported the following:

Page 69:

“What’s your story?” Colette had asked Winnie. But she waved away the question.

“We’ll save that one for another time,” she said, rifling through her wallet. An older woman in front of them turned, a paper cup of roasted nuts in her hands. She smiled, noticing the rise of their bellies. The woman placed her free hand on Winnie’s arm. “You have no idea what you two are in for,” she said, her eyes moist. “The world’s most wonderful gift.”

“That was sweet,” Colette said, after the woman walked away.

“You think so?” Winnie wasn’t looking at her, though. She was staring past her, beyond the stone wall, into the park. “Why does everybody like to tell new mothers what we’re about to gain? Why does nobody want to talk about what we have to lose?”

As she climbs the steps of City Hall, Colette’s thoughts turn to the caption she’d read under Midas’ photo: The baby’s Sophie the Giraffe, a plastic squeak toy from France popular with American parents, and a blue baby’s blanket are also missing. The police are asking anyone with information to call 1-800-NYPDTIP.

Whoever took Midas: why would they take those things? It’s good news, Colette decides, stepping into the elevator. After all, only a person who loves him—or at least someone who doesn’t intend to hurt him—would think to also take his favorite blanket and toy.

How interesting! I think the page 69 test works quite well here, as it raises two questions central to the mystery of what happened to baby Midas, who was abducted from his crib while his sitter slept on the couch.

First, Colette is remembering back a few months to a conversation she had with Winnie (it is her son who was abducted). Winnie and she were still pregnant and Colette remembers an odd comment Winnie made that day--“Why does everybody like to tell new mothers what we’re about to gain? Why does nobody want to talk about what we have to lose?” This comment would come to haunt Colette, making her question what role, if any, Winnie had in what happened to her son that night.

And second, it sets out that whoever took Midas also took his favorite blanket or toy. Hmmmm…what could that mean?

Visit Aimee Molloy's website.

Writers Read: Aimee Molloy.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Positively Izzy"

Terri Libenson is the cartoonist of the internationally syndicated daily comic strip, The Pajama Diaries. She was also a long-time humorous card writer for American Greetings. She won numerous awards for her greeting cards and was the creator of a top-selling card line, “Skitch.” Terri has also written for AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com, and BlueMountainArts.com.

Libenson applied the Page 69 Test to her new graphic novel, Positively Izzy, and reported the following:

Positively Izzy is told from the perspective of two girls, Brianna and Izzy. Page 69 falls during one of Izzy’s chapters. Here, we see Izzy’s mom walking in to their apartment with groceries, ready to chastise her daughter after finding something which turns out to be Izzy’s unfinished take-home test.

This page represents Izzy and her mother’s relationship, which is an important part of the story; Izzy constantly fails to be productive in school, and her mother always worries about her. It’s a tension that builds until an ultimate conflict occurs between mother and daughter. Page 69 is a big predictor of what’s to come.

Visit Terri Libenson's website.

Writers Read: Terri Libenson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Orphan Monster Spy"

Matt Killeen was born in Birmingham, in the UK, back when trousers were wide and everything was brown. Early instruction in his craft included being told that a drawing of a Cylon exploding isn’t writing and copying-out your mother’s payslip isn’t an essay “about my family.” Several alternative careers beckoned, some involving laser guns and guitars, before he finally returned to words and attempted to make a living as an advertising copywriter and largely ignored music and sports journalist. He now writes for the world’s best loved toy company, as it wasn’t possible to be an X-wing pilot. Married to his Nuyorican soul mate, he is parent to both an unfeasibly clever teenager and a toddler who is challenging his father’s anti-establishment credentials by repeatedly writing on the walls. He accidentally moved to the countryside in 2016.

Killeen applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Orphan Monster Spy, and reported the following:

I’m a bit sceptical of the concept behind this, mostly because text and layout vary between editions, however page 69 of the UK edition of Orphan Monster Spy is indeed a bit pivotal. It’s the moment that The Captain is confirmed as a spy as a result of Sarah’s investigations…

“Some things, I don’t know what they are. But you’re a spy.”

“That so?”

“If those things weren’t locked up I wouldn’t have been sure, but they were hidden, so they’re secret. That makes you a spy.”

It’s also the moment she is given her little monster identity, the start of her journey to become a spy herself.

Sarah opened the card. There she was, standing against the hall wall, with the name Ursula Bettina Haller. Most miraculously of all, the papers were unstamped. There was no red J, no police station attendance stamps. Ursula was German and she wasn’t Jewish.

“Why are you doing this?” Sarah felt something – an itch in the corner of her eyes, and it left her breathless. It took her a few seconds to recognize the emotion, so long had it been since she’d been grateful. It made her feel vulnerable and she was immediately suspicious of it.

She ceases to be the orphan from this point on. It marks the end of the “origin story” and the start of the mission. I used to read this bit on my author visits…I’ve been advised to go for a more high-octane bit.

Orphan Monster Spy is on Jenny Kawecki's list of seven YA titles with undercover spies.

Follow Matt Killeen on Twitter.

Writers Read: Matt Killeen.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Love, Penelope"

Joanne Rocklin's children’s books have garnered starred reviews, as well as awards, including The SCBWI Golden Kite, Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, Sydney Taylor Notable, ALA Notable, California Library Association Beatty Award, and others. They are also on many state lists.

Rocklin applied the Page 69 Test to her new middle grade novel, Love, Penelope, and reported the following:

Page 69 gives us much insight into the foibles and joys of Penny’s life, crammed into just one and a half entries. Penny tells her unborn sibling about her jealousy of the new girl Hazel’s budding friendship with Penny’s best friend, Gabby. She brags about the amazing Warrior wins in games against the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings. She worries about the snoring of Mama because of the pregnancy and the driest January on record.

And, as an extra bonus, glancing over at page 68, the reader can’t help but notice the talent of illustrator Lucy Knisley, whose brilliant drawings are scattered throughout the journal entries. Page 68 shows a wonderfully humorous line drawing of Penny imagining herself revealing a negative truth about herself to Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she reveres.

Watch the Love Penelope video trailer, and visit Joanne Rocklin's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Joanne Rocklin & Zoe.

My Book, The Movie: Love, Penelope.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Queen Underneath"

Stacey Filak was born in a small town in Michigan, where she dreamed of hero's quests, epic battles, and publishing a book. At least a couple of things have come true. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with her husband and four children, and a menagerie of pop-culture named pets. She manages a veterinary clinic as her day job and aspires to someday write something that means as much to someone else as her childhood favorites mean to her.

Filak applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Queen Underneath, and reported the following:

In The Queen Underneath, page 69 is a turning point, where the loose strings that have tied the main characters together begin to pull taut. The reader is introduced to Elam – a sex-priest and main protagonist Gemma’s best friend. Page 69 is the first glimpse that we get of the two of them together, and it introduces a softer side to Gemma than the reader has yet seen.

It is also on page 69 that the reader starts to understand the vast repercussions of what has been transpiring in Yigris, and the ways that they will echo throughout the city. Though the reader doesn’t know it, yet, page 69 is critical to another relationship, the spark of which is made in the paragraphs therein.

In the end, page 69 is truly representative of The Queen Underneath, because it is from that page that the webs of friendship, romance and partnership first begin to spread out. Soon after, the reader will come to understand the depth of the crisis facing Yigris, the bond between the group from Under and the brotherhood of the two men from Above will all be joined together by Elam, the link between their worlds.

Visit Stacey Filak's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"My Ex-Life"

Stephen McCauley is the author of The Object of My Affection, True Enough, and Alternatives to Sex. Many of his books have been national bestsellers, and three have been made into feature films. The New York Times Book Review dubbed McCauley “the secret love child of Edith Wharton and Woody Allen”, and he was named a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. His fiction, reviews, and articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, Vogue, and many other publications. He currently serves as Co-Director of Creative Writing at Brandeis University.

McCauley applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, My Ex-Life, and reported the following:

Page 69 in My Ex-Life is the end of a chapter. Thus, it’s really only half a page. But it’s a weirdly good place to drop in. The main characters, Julie and David, were married and divorced in their early 20’s. Since then, they’ve lived on opposite coasts and lost touch. David has come out and Julie has remarried. Thirty years later, when each is at a rough patch in life, they reconnect for the first time.

On page 69, David has flown east from San Francisco on a red-eye flight. He arrives to find Julie’s household more chaotic than she’d let on. Each is worried about how they look to the other after all these years.

Here’s how the page (and the chapter) ends:

…David draped his arm around Julie’s shoulder. He pulled the suitcase behind him as they made their way to the house, and Julie rested her head against him.

“You smell good,” she said.

“It’s the upholstery in the rental car. They spray it with something to make it smell new.”

“If only it were that easy,” Julie said.

Visit Stephen McCauley's website.

Writers Read: Stephen McCauley.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Captain Superlative"

Jessica Puller has an MS in elementary education from Northwestern University and earned a BS and departmental honors in theater from Northwestern's School of Communication. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, and a published playwright.

Puller applied the Page 69 Test to Captain Superlative, her debut novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

But as I hid from view, I watched her give the atrium a quick glance; then she ducked out the door herself.

And I followed her.

I don’t know where the momentum came from. The part of me that was my dad, maybe? I don’t know. Anyone else would have left well enough alone, I think. I just knew that I suddenly had a whirlwind of desire to follow her, to see where she went and what she did and who she was while doing it. I thought that maybe, once we left the school, she’d start to be herself. You know, a normal girl. But as I darted from tree to tree—dark bare branches cutting into a cloudy gray sky—Captain Superlative continued to zoom down the sidewalk with her arms out, the synthetic curls of her wig bouncing against her back. She was flying.

Flaunting.

Fearless.

Free.

The act went on.

There wasn’t a lot of town, as far as Deerwood Park was concerned, of course. The school was set on a side street, surrounded by square little houses with white siding and gray rooftops. The end of the block turned into the downtown area. But downtown wasn’t much more than a few shops, a gas station, the post office, the ice rink, the movie theater, a burger place (without a drive-through), and the train station. The grown jewel of it all was the park.

Is this page representative of my debut novel, Captain Superlative? A little bit yes and a whole lot no.

The protagonist of the story, Janey Silverman, is on a journey to discover who she is and who she wants to be. A large part of her journey involves the pursuit of Captain Superlative, the mysterious superhero who’s been zooming through the halls of her middle school, performing random acts of kindness. The passage on page sixty-nine is the first time that Janey works up the nerve to follow Captain Superlative, to actively search for answers instead of just standing back and watching the world go by. Her first steps to discovering who she really is, deep down inside.

Sounds pretty representative, huh? Like I said, in a way it is. But it’s also missing one of the most critical elements of the entire novel.

To explain, I should mention something about my background. You see, I didn’t start out as a novelist. That came later in my career. In the beginning, I was a playwright.

In fact, Captain Superlative started its life as a play.

My dream is for one of the great Stephens (Sondheim or Schwartz) to help me turn it into a musical.

But I digress.

Theatre is built largely on dialogue, what people say; or, okay, sing. And that’s the very critical ingredient of the story missing from the sixty-ninth page of Captain Superlative. It’s also probably my favorite element of the story. I love the way that the characters interact, particularly Janey and her Father. It follows the old, middle school adage of “show, don’t tell” by demonstrating their closeness and their love.

But, of course, don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourself!

Visit J.S. Puller's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Gale Force"

In addition to the McKenna Rhodes maritime adventure thriller Gale Force, Owen Laukkanen is the author of six critically-acclaimed Stevens and Windermere FBI thrillers, and as Owen Matthews, two wildly inappropriate novels for young adults. A former professional poker journalist and commercial fisherman, Laukkanen and his rescue pitbull Lucy divide their time between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island.

Laukkanen applied the Page 69 Test to Gale Force and reported the following:

Page 69 of Gale Force finds Captain McKenna Rhodes and the crew of the salvage tug she’s inherited, motoring up the Pacific coast of Canada on their way to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where they hope they’ll arrive first at a shipwreck whose rescue could pay them an eight-figure reward. McKenna’s on the tug’s afterdeck, brushing her teeth, when a pod of Dall’s porpoises appear alongside, frolicking in the waves.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Stacey Jonas said. She’d come out of the wheelhouse with her own toothbrush and a mug of water. “So fast and sleek.”

“They sure look like they’re having fun out there,” McKenna said, making room at the rail so Stacey could join her.

“Sure do.” Stacey grinned. “I love watching them. Any sea creatures, really. Sometimes I think I like animals more than I like human beings—present company excluded, of course.”

“Of course. And Matt, too, I hope.”

“Matt, too,” Stacey said. “And he’s the same way. I never love him more than when we’re both underwater, guiding a bunch of folks around some coral reef. We can’t talk to each other, but I still feel him there with me, and that’s more than enough for both of us. I don’t know what I would do if he didn’t feel the same way.”

You’d get divorced, McKenna thought. Like my parents did. Randall Rhodes had tried to get his wife aboard the Gale Force, when he first bought the tug. Come along for an adventure, he’d told her. You won’t even have to cook. But Justine Rhodes loved the city, loved her home, the proximity of the grocery store and the coffee shop and the park. Try as her father might, McKenna’s mom had never budged. And there was surely no way Randall Rhodes was coming in from the sea, so the marriage had wilted, fallen apart, leaving bitterness, hurt feelings, and a lonely, landlocked daughter, passing time in Spokane and dreaming about the ocean. Some romantic idea of what being a salvage master looked like.

This is actually a pretty good representation of the book, thematically, and of the conflict that most mariners grapple with when they set out to sea. McKenna, like her father, has a love for the ocean and for being out on the water, but it’s hard to build a normal life or any kind of a relationship when your job keeps you out on a tugboat—hundreds of miles from land and within only negligible radio contact—for months at a time. Throughout the book (and sequels, I hope), my rookie skipper has to grapple not only with the long odds facing her team’s salvage operation, but also with the sacrifices that every sailor must make if he or she wants to pursue a life at sea.

Visit Owen Laukkanen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Blackout"

Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. He is the author of the Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery novels, all via Polis Books.

Segura applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Blackout, and reported the following:

From page 69:

"What kind of trouble could he cause for you?" Pete asked, turning to look at Mr. McRyan. "What secrets does he have?"

Secrets. Revisiting the past. Trying to make up for past mistakes. That's the crux of Blackout, the fourth Pete Fernandez Mystery and a turning point moment for the series and its protagonist. On page 69, Pete Fernandez is interviewing a potential client - Trevor McRyan, a Florida politician looking to make a move for the governorship. The only problem? His son is AWOL, and McRyan wants him found before he can derail his father's political aspirations. Pete is hesitant at first. He lives in New York now and there's a huge bounty on his head in his hometown of Miami. But when he discovers that the hunt for Stephen McRyan is somehow tied to an older, cold case that Pete failed to solve due to his own demons and addictions, he throws caution to the wind and heads back to Miami to try and find the truth.

While the page itself is about moving the plot forward - the back and forth between Pete and McRyan and his wife to determine if Pete will take the case - it does touch on some of the themes readers will experience in the book, including Pete's quest to make right with his past, in an effort to preserve his future. It's an honorable mission, and you'll have to read the book to see if he succeeds.

Visit Alex Segura's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Vestigial Heart"

Carme Torras, a leading researcher in robotics and artificial intelligence, is Research Professor at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC) in Barcelona and editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Vestigial Heart, and reported the following:

Page 69 touches on a key theme in the novel, namely the struggle of Silvana to recover emotions from the past that increasing interaction with robots has led to extinction at the beginning of the 22nd century.

When, in her search, she attends a Korean ceremony to worship the ancestors:

The strange mood, the scent of incense and the silence set off her imagination, and she shudders upon noticing an unknown spark inside her. [..] She knows that this indiscriminate respect for one’s ancestors is not what she’s looking for … but it’s similar. And, who knows, maybe with the right stimuli she will be able to uncover the underlying emotion, just as laughter brings happiness and not the other way around.

[..] the acolytes perform two complete bows and, amid a captivating quiet and stillness, they prostrate themselves at the old bearded man’s feet. Silvana feels a shiver down her spine, she’s moved by a bodily configuration she has never seen nor imagined, that is capable of making her hair stand on end without any form of physical contact.

In page 69 of the original Catalan version of the novel, Silvana appears also chasing the feeling of admiration for the achievements of great people, but in the Spanish translation the protagonist is Celia, a thirteen-year-old girl from the 21st century who wakes from a cryogenically induced sleep into this strange world. She talks to her mother through a ring she gave her as an amulet:

“Oh, Mom, this all seems like a play where I’m the only living person. The others are like cardboard, or stone … or mechanical, like ROBbie. What am I doing here, if no one cares about me and I’m having a bad time? There are moments when I feel so horribly alone that I’m dying of fear. Then I give up hope and I feel like I could kill myself. If I don’t, it’s for you and Dad. Maybe I haven’t understood where I am, I tell myself, and I try to calm myself down. Who knows, it might just be a bad dream and you could appear at any moment. Sometimes dreams are very real. Why have you chosen this for me, without asking?”

Obviously, Silvana becomes very interested in Celia, and she rivals Leo, a designer of companion robots who is very attracted by the unusual creativity shown by the girl.

Learn more about The Vestigial Heart at the MIT Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Marmalade Murders"

Elizabeth J. Duncan is the award-winning author of the well-established Penny Brannigan mystery series set in North Wales and a second series, Shakespeare in the Catskills.

The new Penny Brannigan mystery is The Marmalade Murders. Kirkus Reviews describes it as, “One of Duncan’s best mysteries, with plenty of suspects and motives but no easy answers to whodunit.”

Duncan applied the Page 69 Test to The Marmalade Murders and reported the following:

From page 69:

Penny looked more closely at him, as if she were seeing him for the first time in a long while. There was something different about him, but at first she couldn’t place it. And then she realized he was wearing new glasses and had a slightly different haircut. He exuded that same cared-for look that she’d recognized earlier in Carwyn Lewis. Gareth was spoken for, Penny realized. She knew he’d been seeing a woman from Edinburgh, but she hadn’t realized the relationship had reached the point where his new flame was sprucing him up.

How different our lives are now, she thought. A year ago, Gareth would have been the lead detective on the case, and I would have been eagerly offering suggestions and helping in any way I could, whether he wanted that help or not. And now he’s sitting here in a marquee at the end of the day, waiting for the police to arrive. She wondered how he felt about that.

Plot and sub plot collide on page 69, so the passage is representative of the book, and by extension, the series. Penny Brannigan, the amateur sleuth protagonist, has just discovered a body in the marquee at the annual agricultural show, and while she and her on-again, off-again flame, Gareth Davies wait for the police to arrive, Penny ponders their relationship. She realizes that it’s now officially off -- he’s moved on, and although she’s wobbled before, she accepts that this time their relationship has really run its course. Before his recent retirement, Gareth Davies was a detective chief inspector with the North Wales police, and Penny wonders how he feels about not being involved in this investigation. Does her concern indicate that she still has feelings for him? Or is that just her Canadian niceness coming out?

Visit Elizabeth J. Duncan's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth J. Duncan and Dolly.

Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Poppy War"

Rebecca F. Kuang studies modern Chinese history. She has a BA from Georgetown University and is currently a graduate student in the United Kingdom on a Marshall Scholarship.

Kuang applied the Page 69 Test to The Poppy War, her debut novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Annoying as Venka was, Rin scarcely had the time or energy to pay much attention to her. They stopped snapping at each other after several days, but only because they were too exhausted to speak. When training sessions ended for the week, they straggled back to the dormitory, muscles aching so much they could barely walk. Without a word, they shed their uniforms and collapsed on their bunks.

They awoke almost immediately to a rapping at their door.

“Get up,” said Raban when Rin yanked the door open.

“What the—”
Raban peered over her shoulder at Venka and Niang, who were whining incoherently from their bunks. “You too. Hurry up.”

“What’s the matter?” Rin mumbled grumpily, rubbing at her eyes.

“We’ve got sweeping duty in six hours.”


“Just come.”


Still complaining, the girls wriggled into their tunics and met Raban outside, where the boys had already assembled.


“If this is some sort of first-year hazing thing, can I have permission to go back to bed?” asked Kitay. “Consider me bullied and intimidated, just let me sleep.”


“Shut up. Follow me.”

Without another word, Raban took off toward the forest.


Some context for this scene: Rin, our protagonist, is just getting settled into life at Sinegard Academy, and you can tell how awful and grueling the training is. But just when she thinks she has a handle on things, Raban comes along to introduce the trainees to something else: midnight martial arts grudge matches fought between the older students in the pits.

Though this scene is clearly a transition scene (if I could choose a different page number, I would!) I still like it because what follows immediately after is the first introduction to the darker side of Academy life, and of the book. It’s also where Kitay gets one of his many sassy lines in the novel, and because Kitay is by far my favorite, I’m always proud when he gets screen time.

Visit R. F. Kuang's website.

--Marshal Zeringue