“Prose that vibrates with intelligence and passion,” —Kirkus, starred review

“A sad, compelling read.” —People

“Thorne’s novel is an eye-opener… she leaves the reader haunted by a nagging question: What happens to the children who are not so lucky?” —M. L. Johnson, Associated Press

“Raw, and ultimately, inspiring.” —Daily Candy

The Rebel Wife.
Polites, Taylor M. (Author)
Feb 2012. 304 p. Simon & Schuster, hardcover,  $25.00. (9781451629514).

When her husband dies of a disturbing blood fever, Augusta Branson escapes the strict bonds of marriage
in the Reconstruction-era South, only to find herself trapped by unexpected debt. Her uncle steps in to care
for her but becomes frustratingly, then disturbingly controlling and mysteriously hostile. As Augusta
awakens to the political and racial tension around her, she realizes that she is caught up in an unexpectedly
complicated web. Her husband’s political machinations put her in danger even after his death, and a
plague-time anxiety begins to take over the town, furthering her desperation and creeping terror. Staying in
her socially acceptable place may be the most dangerous thing she can do, but breaking free in an
atmosphere of mind-numbing heat and simmering fear isn’t easy. Gothically atmospheric to the teeth, this
ominous tale also smartly derives much of its tension from the sinister social and political realities of
postwar Southern society. The suspense is exquisitely honed, verging on overdone but pulled back just in
time to make for a wonderfully chilling—yet over-heated—read.

— Meg Kinney

Addicted to Food premiers April 5th (10-11pm ET/PT)

Taylor Polites’s untitled novel in the Southern Gothic tradition set in Reconstruction Alabama about a young wife whose husband dies of a mysterious blood fever, leaving her to navigate a world irrevocably altered by war, political treachery, and racial conflict where everyone is hiding something from her and her desire for independence may cost her her life, to Trish Todd for Touchstone Fireside, in a pre-empt, in a very nice deal, by Trena Keating of Keating Literary (NA).

Foreign: rights@keatingliterary.com

Melanie Thorne’s debut, HAND ME DOWN, in which a series of family betrayals propels a fourteen-year-old girl across the American West on a dangerous journey of broken promises as she searches for a home of her own choosing, to Denise Roy at Dutton, in a pre-empt, by Trena Keating at Keating Literary (World).