Serena Burdick is the Toronto Star, Publishers Weekly and international bestselling author of The Girls with No Names, now out in the US, Canada and Australia. It is forthcoming in Portugal, Spain, Lithuania and Russia. She is the 2017 International Book Award Winner for Historical Fiction for her novel Girl in the Afternoon. Burdick studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence, holds a Bachelors of Arts from Brooklyn College in English literature and an Associates of Arts from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in theater. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.Burdick applied the Page 69 Test to The Girls with No Names and reported the following:
Page 69 is the first chapter told from the perspective of Jeanne, Effie’s mother. The tone of the story changes here, specifically on this page when Jeanne is on a train headed home and meets a man who offers her a cigarette and sparks a desire she hasn’t felt in years. When she returns home that night she reaches for her husband’s hand and he jumps away as if her touch is offensive. The theme of the book is centered around Effie and her sister Luella, but everything that happens to these sisters is sparked by the behavior and relationship of the parents. The need of these young girls to break away from their parents old fashioned, hypocritical Victorian ways is what allows for everything that unravels in the story. In a way, this scene between husband and wife, the resignation Jeanne has toward her husband’s distaste for her, is central to the whole novel.Visit Serena Burdick's website.
My Book, The Movie: The Girls with No Names.
Writers Read: Serena Burdick.
--Marshal Zeringue
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