Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English

THE SAY SO

Julia Franks

From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses, comes a major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras.

Edie Carrigan didn't plan to "get herself" pregnant, much less end up in a home for unwed mothers. In 1950s North Carolina, illegitimate pregnancy is kept secret, wayward women require psychiatric cures, and adoption is always the best solution. Not even Edie's closest friend, Luce Waddell, understands what Edie truly wants: to keep and raise the baby.

Twenty-five years later, Luce is a successful lawyer, and her daughter Meera now faces the same decision Edie once did. Digging into her mother's past, Meera finds troubling evidence of Edie, and of Luce's secrets. As the three women's lives intertwine and collide, the story circles age-old questions about female awakening, reproductive choice, motherhood, adoption, sex, and missed connections.

THE SAY SO is perfect for fans of Brit Bennett's The Mothers and Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything. It's a timely tale, crafted with equal parts precision and tenderness, that asks the question: how do we contend with the rippling effects of the choices we've made?

Julia Franks is the author of Over the Plain Houses, an NPR Best Book of the Year, winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, the Townsend Award, the Southern Book Prize, and the Georgia Author of the Year award, among others.

Available products
Book Published 2023-06-06 by Hub City Press

Comments

In one devastating plot turn after another, Franks injects bracing honesty into her depictions of the characters, always in gorgeous prose. Describing Edie and Simon's erstwhile love, she writes, 'their love loosened and broke, like decomposing fruit. It was a shock, to see it prove so seasonal.' This will stay with readers. Read more...

What a marvelous novel Julia Franks has written! The Say So is a big and generous story that brings a perennial dilemma into sharp focus from one generation to the next. A perfect and perfectly provocative book club choice!

This is truly a great novel, with compelling writing and distinct characters. Though it's a historical novel, it's extremely timely for today's readers.

At the end of the novel, Julia offers a Note, explaining where this story comes from and her own experiences. This note appeared as a lovely piece in Ms. Magazine this summer. Read more...

I spent every free minute I had immersed in The Say So. What a remarkable book from such an extraordinary writer.

Every so often, a work of fiction appears that is so timely that its creation seems an act of prescience. Julia Franks' The Say So speaks powerfully to the current debate about the rights of women to decide their own fates and control their own bodies. It is a finely crafted story about fascinating characters dealing with the most fundamental things: friendship, sexuality, family, and motherhood. Read it now and you will continue to think about it as years pass.

I loved the different points of view and also the two main characters, Edie and Luce. They were engaging and thoughtful people who gave you a totally opposite way of thinking.

THE SAY SO is incredibly well-written, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Each character feels complex and cared for by the author in a way that makes the writing deeply empathetic. An incredibly relevant book for society today, it is a book that will stay with the reader well past the final page.

Just finished The Say So. Loved it and finished it in one weekend. A powerful important book just at the right time; hope I can get some people of the male persuasion to read it. Maybe we should shelve it next to Ejaculate Responsibly!

Fully formed female characters drive this novel, and the prose is just gorgeous. I loved Franks' first novel, and this one does not disappoint.

It's rare that a novel speaks so eloquently to the contemporary moment as The Say So does. The years may pass but our stories stay the same. Julia Franks has written a beautiful story of mothers and daughters, old friendships, broken hearts, and tough choices. This is a powerful novel, and an important one too.

Brings to light stories that historically might have been whispered from sister to sister, friend to friend. That we get to listen in, to learn from them, and to reflect on their relevance to our time is The Say So's greatest gift.

This is such a smart novel about the true power of our choices. It made me think about my own mother and daughter, and how the act of motherhood is as fundamental as it is complex. It's also a sharp picture of transformation in our little corner of the South. What a great book for book club discussion!

THE SAY SO is an empathetic, suspenseful novel that sweeps through time, exploring the lives of characters living in different time periods. The collision of characters and time makes this expansive story feel both timely and timeless.

Timely and full of hard truths, The Say So is commentary and a compelling story wrapped in one. As are most of the books I read, this one will make for a terrific book club discussion.

Crafts a solid glimpse at life in a home for unwed mothers in Charlotte NC during the 1950s - and allows readers to see how little has changed in so many devastating ways for young, pregnant women in today's America.

Julia Franks...takes readers on explorations of their choices and perspectives in a way that reveals how the present is a continuation of the past.