Welcome to my stop on the book blog tour for No Names to Be Given by Julia Brewer Daily. This blog tour was organized by Lone Star Book Blog Tours. On my stop, I have a spotlight of the book as well as a fantastic interview with the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card! Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!
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Author: Julia Brewer Daily
Publisher: Admission Press Inc.
Publication Date: August 3rd 2021
Print Length: 334 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
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1965. Sandy runs away from home to escape her mother’s abusive boyfriend. Becca falls in love with the wrong man. And Faith suffers a devastating attack. With no support and no other options, these three young, unwed women meet at a maternity home hospital in New Orleans where they are expected to relinquish their babies and return home as if nothing transpired.
But such a life-altering event can never be forgotten, and no secret remains buried forever. Twenty-five years later, the women are reunited by a blackmailer, who threatens to expose their secrets and destroy the lives they’ve built. That shattering revelation would shake their very foundations—and reverberate all the way to the White House.
Told from the three women’s perspectives in alternating chapters, this mesmerizing story is based on actual experiences of women in the 1960s who found themselves pregnant but unmarried, pressured by family and society to make horrific decisions. How that inconceivable act changed women forever is the story of No Names to Be Given, a heartbreaking but uplifting novel of family and redemption.
Watch the book trailer by clicking here or by watching below.
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PRAISE:
A gorgeous, thrilling, and important novel! These strong women will capture your heart. --Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas.
An insightful and sympathetic view offered into the lives of those who were adopted and those who adopted them. --Pam Johnson, author of Justice for Ella.
A novel worthy of a Lifetime movie adaptation. --Jess Hagemann, author of Headcheese.
Readers can expect deep knowledge of the world the characters inhabit. --Sara Kocek, author of Promise Me Something.
This book is a relevant read and one that will keep readers guessing page after page until the very end. --The US Review of Books
Today's young women, especially, need to absorb No Names to Be Given. --Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
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Julia Brewer Daily is a Texan with a southern accent. She holds a B.S. in English and a M.S. degree in Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been a Communications Adjunct Professor at Belhaven University, Jackson, Mississippi, and Public Relations Director of the Mississippi Department of Education and Millsaps College, a liberal arts college in Jackson, MS. She was the founding director of the Greater Belhaven Market, a producers’ only market in a historic neighborhood in Jackson, and even shadowed Martha Stewart. As the Executive Director of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi (300 artisans from 19 states) which operates the Mississippi Craft Center, she wrote their stories to introduce them to the public. Daily is an adopted child from a maternity home hospital in New Orleans. She searched and found her birth mother and through a DNA test, her birth father’s family, as well. A lifelong southerner, she now resides on a ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas, with her husband Emmerson and Labrador retrievers, Memphis Belle and Texas Star.
- What inspired you to write this story?
This debut novel is loosely memoir-like in that it is about women who meet in a maternity home hospital to relinquish their babies for adoption. I am an adopted child from a maternity home hospital and searched and found my birth mother and by DNA results, my birth father’s family.
- What, if anything, did you learn when writing the book?
Although I’m an English major and wrote for the Mississippi Department of Education, universities, and private corporations, writing fiction is a whole new ballgame. Creating a chapter outline and trying to follow it is much more difficult than it sounds.
- What surprised you the most in writing it?
The story is fiction, but a thread of my own life is woven throughout the novel. I was surprised by how many childhood and young adult memories I have that rose to the surface during my writing. Many of those memories I had not remembered until they were triggered by my writing.
- What does the title mean?
The title comes from a line in the book that reads “She heard the babies crying as if they already knew—they had no mothers to hold them, no names to be given.”
- Were any of the characters inspired by real people? If so do they know?
Since my life is woven throughout the novel, I based some of the experiences on my own. A few of my family members may recognize certain traits they possess.
- Do you consider the book to have a lesson or moral?
Because the book is set in the 1960s during a time when pregnant women were expected to give up children out of wedlock, I think young women today will learn about a time of which they know little. Perhaps the lesson is for us to learn from history and not repeat our mistakes, mainly the shame inflicted on young women who were forced to give up their babies.
- What is your favorite part of the book?
I love the friendships of the three women who were from different walks of life but bonded in a way that lasted the rest of their lives.
- Which character was the most challenging to create? Why?
Faith was challenging because she is a woman of strong religious beliefs, but those are in jeopardy when tragedy strikes her life. Also, it was challenging to write an African-American man’s character, especially during the tumultuous sixties.
- What are your immediate future plans?
When the launch of the debut novel winds down and I don’t have as many marketing responsibilities, I will return to writing my second novel. It is a story about a female heir to the largest ranch in Texas who finds an ancient people living on her property. I can’t do it justice until the first book is put to bed!
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GIVEAWAY:
Win a $100 Amazon gift card!
(US only.)
(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Lone Star Book Blog Tours assumes all responsibility.)
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keep up the amazing work, this book looks so good I cant wait to read and thank you for a chance to win!!!
ReplyDeletei LOVE the sound of this book. crossing my fingers for the win and i'll pick up a copy.:-)
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
Sounds like an interesting story.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing! & ty for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite travel destination?
ReplyDelete