Join us to celebrate the launch of The Say So, a new novel by Julia Franks. From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses, comes this new major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras. Franks will be in conversation with Trudy Nan Boyce. Registration requested. Charis Books & More will be our bookseller for this evening.

*****Due to A/C malfunctions in the Auditorium, this event will be held in the Gallery on 4*****

When you enter the rear lobby, please take the elevator maked "Small Changes-Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition" up to the 4th floor.

About the Book: 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. Like Luce, Meera is fiercely independent and plans to handle her unexpected pregnancy herself. Along the way, Meera finds startling secrets about her mother’s past, including the long-ago friendship with Edie. 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.

For fans of Brit Bennett's The Mothers and Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything, The Say So is a timely novel that asks: how do we contend with the rippling effects of the choices we've made? With equal parts precision and tenderness, Franks has crafted a sweeping epic about the coming of age of the women’s movement that reverberates through the present day.

About the Author: Julia Franks is the author of Over the Plain Houses, which was an NPR Best Book of 2016 and was awarded five literary prizes. She has published essays in outlets like the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and The Bitter Southerner. While her roots are in the Southeast, she spent years teaching literature in the US and abroad. She lives in Atlanta.

About the Moderator: Trudy Nan Boyce is the author of three novels, comprising the Salt Trilogy; The Policeman's Daughter, Out of the Blues, and Old Bones, from G.P. Putnam's Sons. In 2017 she was awarded both a Georgia Author of the Year Award and a Pinckley Prize for her debut novel, Out of the Blues. She is currently at work on her fourth novel. She received her Ph.D. in community counseling before becoming a police officer for the City of Atlanta. During her more-than-thirty-year career she served as a beat cop, homicide detective, senior hostage negotiator, and lieutenant. Boyce retired from the police department in 2008 and still lives in Atlanta.