"The Vampire of Kings Street"

Asha Greyling lives in Maryland with her furry four-footed muses, Gwin the terrier and a guinea pig who thinks she’s a cat. She likes nothing more than swinging in the playground (unless the local children scare her off), collecting acorns, or sitting down with a good book.

Greyling applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Vampire of Kings Street, and reported the following:

From page 69:

It was not social awkwardness or avarice at the opportunity presented to her by acquaintance with this grand, mysterious family that made Radhika silent, looking out at the dim silhouettes of shingled houses and long, low hills. It was the curious dynamic in what she was beginning to understand of the Frosts’ tightly knit household: it was Evelyn’s dualism in the tears he shed in her office and his assumed reserve in prison: and more irresistibly, it was the dream-like understanding of what it was to grieve for someone while simultaneously resenting them both for their failings in life and their absence in death. It was a familiar feeling, at once frightened yet certain, that she could only describe as fascination.

Did the Page 69 Test work?

Yes! I’m as surprised as anybody frankly, because I was bracing for the test not to work—I had no idea what was on page 69! But as soon as I looked it up, I couldn’t deny it. This paragraph perfectly encapsulates Radhika Dhingra’s fear and determination to uncover the truth of the vampire Evelyn More’s mystery—and conveys her own personal stake in his situation.

The Vampire of Kings Street is a book that explores intersocietal connections and prejudices, all from the point-of-view of an aspiring lawyer of South Indian heritage. It was important to me in creating this world of vampires and humans living together that the fundamental emotion be one of wonder—of fascination—for something strange yet unexpectedly familiar.

Visit Asha Greyling's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Scandal in Mayfair"

Katharine Schellman is a former actor, a one-time political consultant, and currently the author of the Lily Adler Mysteries. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Schellman currently lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her family and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new Lily Adler Mystery, A Scandal in Mayfair, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Chapter 7

“What a smart little rig, Captain,” Lily said as Jack handed first her and then his sister up into his new curricle.

He had called, as promised, first thing in the morning, arriving just as Lily and Amelia were finishing breakfast. As Jack strode into the dining room, offering a polite greeting and helping himself to a plate of sausages, Lily had seen Carstairs hovering in the hallway before he shook his head and walked away. She had smiled to herself at his resignation, though she could not help wondering what her rather stoic butler, who, in spite of his own slightly checkered past, was now a model of propriety, made of Jack’s easy comings and goings these days.

A simple explanation was sitting beside her, holding her hat against the wind. And that, Lily reminded herself, trying not to think of her embarrassment the night before, was all there was to it.

Except this morning. She could tell from Jack’s expression that he had something to share.

Page 69 of A Scandal in Mayfair comes at the start of a chapter, so it’s a particularly short snippet because of the heading. And I think, in this case, it wouldn’t give brand new readers a particularly strong sense of the book as a whole.

It does give a good sense of the setting—London in 1817—which strongly influences how the characters behave. The rules of the strict society Lily Adler and her friends live in required certain pretenses and politenesses, which impact not only how they interact with each other but also how Lily, as a sleuth, must handle her investigating. But because this short snippet is mostly focused on scene setting, it doesn’t give a strong sense of the intertwining mysteries the characters must solve or the stakes they are facing if they fail (blackmail being one of them!)

There is one group, though, that I think would learn a lot from this snippet: returning readers who want to know whether the tension that has been building slowly between two characters is going to pay off in a romance. While the Lily Adler books are, first and foremost, mysteries, there has been a strong subplot throughout all of them of Lily finding herself again after the unexpected death of her husband, and part of that has been the re-entry of romance into her life. Anyone who has been eagerly following that particular subplot probably wouldn’t be able to resist turning the page here!

Visit Katharine Schellman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Note of Warning.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Swimmer"

Loreth Anne White is an Amazon Charts, Washington Post and Bild bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and suspense. With over 3 million books sold around the world, she is an ITW Thriller Awards nominee, a three-time RITA finalist, an overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Arthur Ellis finalist, and winner of multiple other industry awards.

A recovering journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now calls Canada home. She resides in the Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a rustic lakeside cabin in the Cariboo.

When she’s not writing or dreaming up plots, you will find her on the lakes, in the ocean, or on the trails with her dog where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears.

White applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Swimmer, and reported the following:

While it might not give the reader a full idea of the whole book, the Page 69 Test does apply to a key story arc in The Swimmer–it burrows toward the psychological heart of my quirky main character, bartender Chloe Cooper. However, my cue to the reader would be: Beware, because nothing—not even the main character—is quite what first meets the eye in a twisty psychological suspense, is it?

We hit page 69 after Chloe has had a highly traumatic and triggering 9-1-1 ambulance trip to the hospital with her mother (who is in palliative care and lives with Chloe in her tiny apartment along with her old dog, Brodie). But now Chloe is back at work and she’s discovered that the painting she gifted her boss for his birthday (her hobby is painting, and she’s done a night scene of the exterior of the restaurant in which she works) has been hung in the lobby where everyone can see it, and this rather mortifies her. Below is the text from that section of The Swimmer:

“Why did Bill do that?” Chloe demands.

“Do what?”

“Hang it up there.” She points. “Where everyone can see it?”

“Well, he wants everyone to see it. That’s the—ah—idea.”

“There’s no reason to mount it right above the hostess’s head.”

Stavros angles his own head and gives Chloe a hint of a smile, which draws her attention to that provocative sprout of hair beneath his lower lip.

“Do you find this amusing, Stavros?”

“Bill loves the painting, Chloe. That’s why he hung it there. He actually canvassed some of the staff, asking us where we thought it would look good. We all reckoned this was the best spot.” He tilts his chin toward her rendition of the Beach House at night, windows aglow with yellow, people sitting at tables inside.

“By committee?” Chloe is horrified.

“Honestly, Chloe, it’s brilliant. One of the customers who came in yesterday said it reminded him of a famous painting by Edward Hopper called Nighthawks.”

She stares

at him. She doesn’t know about Edward Hopper, and she’s not about to admit it. She’ll google Hopper later.

“Seriously, where di

d you think Bill would hang it when you gave it to him?” Stavros asks.

“I don’t know. At home, maybe. Or throw it away. I had to give him something for his birthday.” Chloe likes Bill. She’s indebted to him for giving her a start in the bar business. But before Stavros can answer, she makes a beeline for the bar, where she knows she will be safe behind the counter. In her domain. Her castle. With her arsenal of bottles and mixers and herbs and spices at her fingertips. Ingredients with which she can produce any variation of elixirs and potions to appease her patrons.

I know what you all like. I know exactly how much each of you drinks. All of you who live in this elitist little neighborhood enclave. I know your weaknesses. I see your lies. You’re not as special as you all think you are.

Stavros, annoyingly, follows her. She keeps her face averted as she tucks her purse under the counter, shrugs out of her puffy jacket, and takes her black apron with its name tag off a hook. She loops the apron over her head and secures the ties behind her back.

“You should be proud of your work, Chlo. You have talent. Everyone says so.”

“Don’t call me Chlo, Stavros. My proper name is Chloe. And I don’t see why people should talk about me behind my back. I know they do, but—” A weird emotion attacks out of nowhere, and her voice cracks. Tears threaten to come to her eyes. She doesn’t know why she’s suddenly reacting this way. It’s as though seeing her painting up there has ripped away the protective veil of numbness she’s been hiding under this past week, since the hospital episode.

You attracted attention. I told you—you would live to rue the day.

“Why are you so scared of the truth?” Stavros asks. “You’re talented, Chloe. The photos of some of your other pieces that you showed me are stunning. And that painting you gave my uncle—”

“I am not scared, Stavros. What makes you think I’m scared? And for heaven’s sake, just—just leave it alone, okay?” She turns her back on him and starts polishing glasses.

“Say, talking of birthday gifts, isn’t yours coming up soon, too?”

“No.”

“I’m sure you mentioned the other day that—”

“I didn’t. You’re wrong.” She refuses to face him. She starts checking her invento on earth is she telling him she already turned forty in a beige hospital chair.

He’s silent for a while. She wishes he would leav your mom, Chlo? Is she doing okay? How is she?”

“She’s perfectly fine. Same as usual. The care worker will call if there’s another emergency at home.”

“And Brodie?”

“Brodie’s fine.”

“Okay, well, cool.” He removes his own black apron. “Your shift. Bar’s all yours.”

He heads toward the kitchen with his peculiar bouncing lope, balling his apron up in his overly large hands as he goes. Her gaze follows him for a moment. Part of her wants to reach out, pull him back, say sorry, tell him she doesn’t know what’s overcome her.

Another part is relieved he’s gone.

Chloe’s interaction with her co-worker Stavros Vasilou on page 69 underscores Chloe’s oddness. She has a slightly offbeat way of talking—a mix of British properness blended with a North American accent and delivered (at times) with a self-righteous, preachy condescension, yet with an air of vulnerability. We begin to get a sense here that Chloe is perhaps a little ‘different’. And these are all things that will begin to make sense later in the story as we figure out whether Chloe is a villain or a victim, or some shade of grey in between.

Visit Loreth Anne White's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sleep Tight"

J. H. Markert, the author of The Nightmare Man, Mister Lullaby, and Sleep Tight, is the pen name for writer James Markert, an award-winning novelist of historical fiction. Markert is a produced screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for 25 years, before hanging up the racquets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in History from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since. With a total of 10 published novels under his belt, Markert writes historical fiction under his name and horror/thriller under J.H. Markert. He has recently completed his next historical novel, Ransom Burning, a civil rights era family/crime drama that Markert calls “my best book yet!” He recently finished another horror novel called Dig, and is currently hard at work on his next novel, Spider to the Fly.

Markert applied the Page 69 Test to Sleep Tight and reported the following:

On page 69 of Sleep Tight, Detective Danny Gomes arrives at the house of a young woman who’d just encountered the book’s antagonist, the Outcast, and he’s starting to ask her questions about the couple of hours she’d been tied up inside her own kitchen while the Outcast used her phone.

Amazingly enough, anyone opening to this page, I believe, would get a great snapshot of the entire work—as there’s tension, mention of the murderer, and a clear idea that many are in danger.

Visit J.H. Markert's website.

Q&A with J. H. Markert.

My Book, The Movie: The Nightmare Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Nightmare Man.

My Book, The Movie: Sleep Tight.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Young Conquerors"

Christopher Cosmos was raised in the Midwest and attended the University of Michigan as the recipient of a Chick Evans Scholarship. In addition to being a bestselling author, he is also a screenwriter and has had his work featured in the annual Black List of best Hollywood screenplays of the year. He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Young Conquerors, and reported the following:

Page 69 of Young Conquerors features a young Alexandros the Great and Hephaestion on a hunting trip together deep in a Greek forest. They split off from the main hunting group, and instead of the boar they’re searching for, they instead come upon a lion alone in a clearing and there’s a pivotal scene where Hephaestion, who doesn’t know Alexandros very well at this point, learns something very important about him and an unbreakable connection and bond starts to further form and take hold between them.

This scene was inspired by a famous mosaic that’s currently housed in the Pella Archaelogical Museum, depicting Alexandros and Hephaestion hunting a lion, though the scene in Young Conquerors is a bit different as they don’t hunt the lion, but come upon it and instead recognize in it perhaps a kindred spirit. It is a good representation of the novel as a whole in that it shows Hephaestion and Alexandros alone, and for the very first time taking on the world, and also where this scene ultimately leads is to the relationship that’s formed between them that lasts the rest of their lives, and even leads them to conquer the whole world together.

Also, it’s a bond and love that Aristotle - their teacher, a couple chapters later - would refer to (the same in this novel, as he did in real life) as the boys havitwo bodies, but just one soul between them.

This love story is the spine of the novel and window into exploring two of the most fascinating and pivotal characters in history as they’ve never been seen or allowed to have been explored before, and this scene that begins on Page 69 is one of the moments in which they perhaps begin to realize what they mean to each other, and what they could be, together.

They also begin to realize just what this love they share is, how powerful and consuming it can be, and how far in the world it might be able to take them, if they only let it.

Visit Christopher Cosmos's website.

The Page 69 Test: Once We Were Here.

Q&A with Christopher Cosmos.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Empress of Cooke County"

Elizabeth Bass Parman grew up entranced by family stories, such as the time her grandmother woke to find Eleanor Roosevelt making breakfast in her kitchen. She worked for many years as a reading specialist for a non-profit and spends her summers in a cottage by a Canadian lake. She has two grown daughters and lives outside her native Nashville with her husband and maybe-Maltipoo, Pippin.

Parman applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The Empress of Cooke County, and reported the following:

The Page 69 Test works very well to convey the essence of the story from Posey’s POV. In this scene, she is trying to convince her husband Vern to leave the modest home he loves and move to the mansion she has just inherited. An ice storm has knocked out their power, and they are having a dinner of cornflakes and orange juice by the fire. “This house was my parents’ home, and now it’s my home.” He paused and then added, “It’s your home, too, if you’d only realize it.” Myopic Posey cannot recognize what is right in front of her. When she answers Vern, “Well I don’t,” the essence of their conflict is revealed. They agree on nothing, and Posey’s ambition prevents her from appreciating what she has, a cozy house and a kind husband.

Because the story is dual-POV, I’m going to cheat a little and take a scene from one of eighteen- year-old Callie Jane’s chapters to show the essence of her journey. Early on in the story, she finds a book about tarot with an Empress tarot card tucked inside. She reads about the Empress, who embodies success, abundance, and confidence, all things Callie Jane lacks. On page 43 she quotes the tarot book.

“Ignore the message of this magnificent woman at your peril,” she whispered. But what was the message? The answer began to emerge from its eighteen-year-old chrysalis, unfolding fledgling wings within her soul: Choose your dreams and then do all in your power to conjure them into being, before someone else does the choosing for you. Now she just had to figure out what those dreams were.

And with this realization, Callie Jane begins her journey of self-discovery.

Visit Elizabeth Bass Parman's website.

Q&A with Elizabeth Bass Parman.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Witching Hour"

Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, then immigrated to California where she lives on Patwin ancestral land. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalist Strangers at the Gate. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime, of which she is a former national president.

McPherson applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Witching Hour, and reported the following:

From page 69:

to be getting back. I’ve done him up the best I can, the poor soul. It was the least I could offer him.’

‘The least . . . ?’

‘A winding sheet and a posy of herbs,’ she said. ‘I’m not an undertaker. It’s a black day for Dirleton this. And we didn’t need another one. Well, I don’t need to tell you.’

She bobbed a polite curtsy then and left me. As her footsteps faded on the stairs, ringing out like knocks on a door from her wooden pattens, I heard a latch and turned to see Alec’s face peering out. ‘What the dickens?’ he said. ‘I didn’t see whoever that was, Dandy, but I heard her. There is something very odd going on around here. What on earth do you suppose these fabled writers are coming to write?’

‘I haven’t the faintest clue,’ I said. ‘But that’s the second time someone’s spoken of “her”.’

‘Well we must find her, wouldn’t you say?’

‘How?’ I demanded. It came out like a howl, as it so easily does if one’s tone of voice is not quite under one’s command.

‘The landlord’s back,’ Alec said. ‘He just brought a coffin into the yard on a little cart. I saw him from my window.’

‘Let’s ask him who “she” is then,’ I said. ‘Better than asking Miss Clarkson.’

‘Why’s that?’ said Alec.

It was not until I opened my mouth to answer him that I realised I did not know. Not for the first time since arriving in Dirleton, I shivered. I decided not to look around for open windows or doors ajar. I decided to believe there was a draught and not dislodge that belief by checking.

Page 69 is spookily efficient at indicating the tone and content of The Witching Hour, actually.

There's enough historical detail to let a prospective reader know this isn't present-day. There's a corpse being laid out in a winding sheet with a posy of herbs (which couldn't have done much, in my opinion) and Dandy and Alec, my detectives, are skulking about overhearing mystifying references to persons unknown, which tells you this is in the crime genre. There's mention of "her" - and not the first - which is gratifying for a book with the word "witch" right there in the title. And there's Dandy's subconscious knowing more than the rest of her. She's clocked Miss Clarkson as problematic, and blurts it out, with no idea why. Finally, there's a hint of the book's tone: a bit of creep and Dandy's attempt at briskness in the face of it. I think if someone found page 69 tedious, they'd be well-advised to swerve the rest of the story. But if someone felt intrigued, they wouldn't be sorry for committing.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Divorce Towers"

Ellen Meister is a novelist, book coach, screenwriter, and creative writing instructor who started her career writing advertising copy. Her novels include Take My Husband; The Rooftop Party; Love Sold Separately; Dorothy Parker Drank Here; Farewell, Dorothy Parker; The Other Life; and more. Meister’s essays have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Newsday, the Wall Street Journal blog, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Long Island Woman, Writer’s Digest, and Publishers Weekly. Career highlights include appearing on NPR, being selected for the prestigious Indie Next List by the American Booksellers Association, having her work translated into foreign languages, and receiving a TV series option from HBO.

Meister lives in New York and publicly speaks about her books, fiction writing, and America’s most celebrated literary wit, Dorothy Parker.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Divorce Towers, and reported the following:

Thank you for inviting me to put Divorce Towers to the Page 69 Test. I think it passes!

Three of the novel’s central themes are captured on this page. It opens with my main character, Addison Torres, training for her new job as concierge at a luxury Beverly Hills condo nicknamed Divorce Towers. A male resident approaches to ask Addison and her boss, Frankie, to send a birthday gift to his eight-year-old daughter and put his name on the card. He has no idea what the child might like—only that he wants it to cost about $500. After Addison presses him with questions, they decide to send the child an expensive basket of goodies that will encourage her artistic abilities.

Addison didn’t know how they would find art supplies for an eight-year-old that came anywhere close to $500, but with Frankie’s guidance she called a Beverly Hills toy store and asked them to put together a package and have it delivered that afternoon. Remembering the hours she’d spent at the kitchen table with a box of crayons and a coloring book, Addison imagined an eighteen-wheeler backing up to the little girl’s house to dump an Everest of Crayolas.

Here, in addition to highlighting the entitlement of the wealthy residents Addison encounters throughout the book, the narrative depicts her as a fish-out-of-water, which is central to Addison’s story.

Addison’s matchmaking background is also central to her story. It’s what she did in New York before her life fell apart. Now she wants to use those skills to find an appropriate match for her dear Uncle Arnie, who’s pining for his wretched ex-wife. Addison’s determination to find a more suitable love match for her uncle is the narrative engine that drives the whole book. This plot point makes an appearance on the bottom of the page, when a woman approaches the concierge desk to ask for plastic surgeon recommendations.

Addison didn’t think the lovely blond looked like she needed to have any work done, but kept that to herself. She did, however, want to stall her for a quick conversation to assess her suitableness for Arnie.

“Good luck with it,” Addison said. “I’m sure you’ll look spectacular for whatever event you’re getting ready for.”

“The only event I’m looking forward to is my divorce.”

“In that case,” Addison said, “I hope he eats his heart out.”

“Maybe if I show up with some stud on my arm,” the woman said with a bitter laugh.

“What kind of stud are you looking for?” Addison asked, hoping she wasn’t pushing it too far.

“Why? You know someone?”

I hope readers of this blog agree that this passes the test… and maybe even gets an A!

Visit Ellen Meister's website.

The Page 69 Test: Dorothy Parker Drank Here.

The Page 69 Test: Love Sold Separately.

The Page 69 Test: Take My Husband.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Them Without Pain"

Chris Nickson is the author of eleven Tom Harper mysteries, eight highly acclaimed novels in the Richard Nottingham series, and seven Simon Westow mysteries. He is also a well-known music journalist. He lives in his beloved Leeds.

Nickson applied the Page 69 Test to the newest Simon Westow mystery, Them Without Pain, an reported the following:

Page 69 of Them Without Pain doesn’t offer the reader any insight into the main plot of the book. However, it does provide the first crucial insight into the subplot, about a strange, dangerous newcomer who’s latched on to a beggar that Jane, one of the main characters, likes. The beggar is an old soldier, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, a man with a wooden leg who’s sometimes given her information she can use as an assistant to Simon Westow, the thief-taker.

There are other street people who watch and learn things, many of them the homeless children who gather together for protection, looked after by Sally, another girl who works for Westow. Jane, who grew up on the streets, wants to discover what they’ve learned. But finding them can be difficult.

The homeless made their camps where they could. They chose empty buildings that would soon be demolished before factories started to rise from their ashes. But there was nobody in the spots she used to know. Jane wandered along the river. Ten minutes passed before she felt someone watching her. She drew out of sight into the entrance of a court, pulling out the knife and holding it down by her side. She was surprised: no worry, only the sense of anticipation. A small figure stood in the gloom. ‘Sally says you’re to come along with me.’ She put the weapon back in her pocket and followed. The girl skipped along, as if she was playing a game. They passed Cavalier Hill, then took a track that led towards the river. Jane smelled the smoke of a bonfire and started to pick out the silhouettes. She’d entered Sally’s kingdom, a shifting place the girl visited as often as she could. ‘They saw you right away,’ she said. ‘They haven’t used those old places in months.’ ‘I wanted them to find me.’ She turned her head towards the group gathered by the fire; even on a warm night, the blaze felt like comfort and safety. Boys, girls, men, women, from four years old to twenty. Some sleeping, others talking softly. Nothing had really changed from the years she’d lived this way, Jane thought; it simply felt like another age now. Maybe it would stay this way until the end of time. She was aware that many of them were observing her. ‘Have they come up with anything on the man with Dodson?’ ‘His name’s John,’ Sally told her. ‘None of them have heard him called more than that. No surname. He arrived in Leeds a few days ago. They’re scared of him.’

It's a page of background, of information, of the atmosphere of Leeds in 1825, and what life was like for these feral kids. The sense of place can be as important as the events, helping to transport the reader into the book; certainly for me it’s always been vital. An idea that life is dangerous, and often brief for the poor and the powerless. This is a page that focuses on the utterly powerless.

While it does nothing to further the book’s main story, page 69 does offer the first step in unmasking a very deadly character; that makes it important.

Visit Chris Nickson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Iron Water.

The Page 69 Test: The Hanging Psalm.

Q&A with Chris Nickson.

The Page 69 Test: The Molten City.

My Book, The Movie: Molten City.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (August 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Brass Lives.

The Page 69 Test: The Blood Covenant.

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Will Rise.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Rusted Souls.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (September 2023).

The Page 69 Test: The Scream of Sins.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (March 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Falling Wisteria"

Laila Ibrahim is the bestselling author of After the Rain, Scarlet Carnation, Golden Poppies, Paper Wife, Mustard Seed, and Yellow Crocus. Before becoming a novelist, she worked as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. Drawing from her experience in these positions, along with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, she finds rich inspiration for her novels. She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her children and their families are her pride and joy. When she isn’t writing, she likes to cuddle with her dog Hazel, take walks with friends, study the Enneagram, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food.

Ibrahim applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Falling Wisteria, and reported the following:

This is the totality of page 69 of Falling Wisteria:

regretted showing her the Fujiokas were not next door. Now when she escaped, Hazel searched further and further away, hoping to find her beloved family. Kay Lynn understood. She also ached for the warmth and laughter of the Fujiokas' home, and for the friend she so dearly missed.

This incomplete passage is a great representation of the novel. It starts in the middle; there is a lot that came before that you have to fill in for yourself. It also speaks to Kay Lynn's lack of confidence in her own actions--no matter what she does things are wrong. And it shows that she is as emotionally confused as the beings she must care for--in this case her neighbor's beloved dog that they had to leave behind when they were sent to an internment camp during World War 2.

Visit Laila Ibrahim's website.

Q&A with Laila Ibrahim.

--Marshal Zeringue