FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: Jennifer Richards, Jen@otrpr.com
“Fans of Margaret Atwood will eat this up.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In Viner’s exquisite debut, a Southern California woman raised in a cult struggles to reconnect with a lost love amid a dystopian society…With a wholly original and eerily suspenseful story, Viner has created a modern society that’s just creepy enough to be believable. Fans of Margaret Atwood will eat this up.”
—Publishers Weekly
“JANE OF BATTERY PARK is an atmospheric novel centered by its characters’ determination, regret, and second chances.”
—Foreword Reviews
Unorthodox in the Heartland—Like Esty in the new Netflix miniseries, JANE OF BATTERY PARK is on the run from her suffocating religious community and from her husband and brother. And she, too, dreams of becoming a musician. The comparison stops here; she didn’t grow up in New York City among Hasidism, but in the Midwest in a punishing, ultraconservative cult of fundamentalist warriors/terrorists. Still, the energy and spirit of Jaye Viner‘s novel, which is also a compelling political thriller, is just as infectious, terrifying, and poignant.
—Catherine Texier, author of Breakup
In her debut political thriller, JANE OF BATTERY PARK (Red Hen Press, August 31, 2021), Jaye Viner draws on her upbringing in a fundamentalist sect to examine Christian nationalism from the inside. She raises serious questions about the difficulties of breaking away from the past when your upbringing and system of beliefs are all that you know. How do you establish a new you outside of that world? How do you reconcile that unconditional love for your family when you realize they’ve committed serious atrocities?
Jane is a Los Angeles nurse who grew up in a Christian cult that puts celebrities on trial for their sins. Daniel is a has-been actor whose career ended when the cult family members nearly killed him for flirting with her. Eight years after a romantic meet-cute in Battery Park, both search for someone to fill the gap they imagine the other could’ve filled if given the chance. Jane compulsively goes on dates with every self-professed expert in art, music, and food hoping they will teach her the nuances of the culture she couldn’t access in her youth. Daniel looks for a girlfriend who will accept the disabilities left from the cult attack. A loving woman will prove to Daniel’s blockbuster star brother, Steve, that he’s capable of a supporting role in Steve’s upcoming movie and relaunching Daniel’s career. When a chance encounter unexpectedly reunites them, Jane and Daniel not only see another chance at the love they lost, but an opportunity to create the lives they’ve always wanted. The only question is whether their families will let them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born a missionary kid in Kobe, Japan, and homeschooled on the American Great Plains as part of an evangelical community, Jaye Viner straddles many worlds and too many personal interests. As an “EXvangical,” she now worships her cats and spends a great deal of time at the salon maintaining her blue hair. She holds an MFA and MA from the University of Nebraska. Her debut thriller, JANE OF BATTERY PARK, explores what it means to come from one place and want to learn how to be from somewhere else. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska. For more information on Jaye Viner and her writing, visit: https://jayeviner.com.
For further information, review or interview requests, please contact Jennifer Richards: Jen@otrpr.com.
JANE OF BATTERY PARK
by Jaye Viner
Red Hen Press; August 31, 2021
Literary suspense | ISBN#: 978-1597091176 | 248 pp. | Trade paperback original
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