Here’s the cover of my upcoming YA novel Keep Sweet. I love how it encompasses ideas from the book: a girl living in a patriarchal cult dreaming of escape.
Here’s the back cover description:
Fourteen-year old Elizabeth Warren lives in the “Community” with her father, four mothers, and sixteen siblings. Their prophet heads the cult, controlling all aspects of the community members’ lives. When he announces that Elizabeth must marry her older cousin, she joins forces with her twin brother, her older sister, and two good friends to alter her fate. With the prophet always two steps ahead of their plans, Elizabeth realizes she must confide the dark secret of her life.
Early Response to Keep Sweet
Jo Scott-Coe, author of Unheard Witness: The Life and Death of Kathy Leissner Whitman (University of Texas Press), says:
Family. Faith. Stability. Chosenness. Who suffers when these ideals are exploited by powerful patriarchs? Keep Sweet traces Elizabeth’s path of resistance as she navigates the Prophet’s terrible maze of expectations and discovers the shocking complicity of his accomplices within their religious community. Escape may be dangerous, but Waddle’s insightful novel shows how a young woman’s disruptive questions can uncover (and recover) surprising allies along the way. Together, they reach for—and find—a healing future where autonomy and interdependence, curiosity and kindness, can co-exist without fear.
Gayle Brandeis, author of Delta Girls and winner of the Bellwether Prize for Literature for The Book of Dead Birds, says:
What a powerful story of finding one’s voice and breaking free. Victoria Waddle reminds us we all have a Helper inside us, an intuitive force that can guide us toward speaking our own truth (often helping others in the process.) A compelling, necessary novel.
Juanita E. Mantz – Writer, Lawyer, Podcaster and Author of Tales of an Inland Empire Girl and Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender or How I Became a Punk Rock Lawyer, says:
Keep Sweet had me mesmerized from the opening pages. Initially, 14-year-old protagonist Elizabeth is an unlikely heroine. Yet, this strong girl finds her voice and her power as she works to liberate herself and loved ones from the shackles of shame and abuse in a religious cult. Beautifully wrought and empathetic, with a unique and captivating voice, Keep Sweet should be a staple in every high school library.
Preorder
Keep Sweet is now available for preorder. It officially launches on June 21. However, if you order it from the publisher, you’ll get it in May. And I’m making beautiful fabric bookmarks as thank yous for anyone who orders Keep Sweet directly from the publisher. You can also order it from all the usual suspects.
Here is preorder link for the publisher, Inlandia Books (the Inlandia Institute, a literary nonprofit): https://square.link/u/FxW8UyW2
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/keep-sweet-victoria-waddle/1147103039?ean=9781955969482
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/keep-sweet/9b700ad875ee778f?ean=9781955969482&next=t
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