Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

The Booker Rebellion came to me as I drove on a two-lane highway somewhere between Alsea and the ocean. I had been thinking about my nieces and nephews in the magic of a temperate rainforest, all rich and dark and riding the steep ridges of the Oregon Coast Range. The kids I adore, the landscape I love merged into a story. It has never let me go.

Those kids are much taller now, and The Booker Rebellion is a real thing, a literary thriller coming from Sibylline Press in November. The Booker siblings — fifteen-year-old Belinda, twelve-year-old Jack and six-year-old Emmy — discover a corpse in the forest near their remote home and are on their own as they uncover a secret militia caching weapons in the woods, see their aunt disappear, and find themselves the target of a deputy who’d rather they disappear too. Their parents may be off fighting wildfires in Alaska, but these free-range kids have operating instructions: Pay attention. Notice what’s right. Notice what’s wrong. Do what must be done.

In coming months I’ll be sharing more news: a cover reveal, an opportunity for early readers, an upcoming writing workshop. I’ll keep you posted.

A note to the nieces and nephews: I swear, kids, it’s fiction. None of the stuff you actually did is in here. Promise.