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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: Jennifer Richards, Jen@otrpr.com

For fans of Emma Straub, Camille Perri, and J. Courtney Sullivan comes a darkly funny novel from a fresh new voice in fiction about brides, lovers, friends, and family, and all the secrets that come with them.

“A dramatic and darkly funny dose of WASP culture. Liz Parker takes on dysfunctional families, destination weddings, and the fact that sometimes the most difficult person to accept is yourself.” ―Laura Hankin, author of Happy & You Know It

“In her buoyant, sharply observed, and painfully hilarious debut novel, All Are Welcome, Liz Parker tells the big story of a small lesbian wedding. Over a meticulously planned weekend at a sunstruck Bermuda beach club, the hard-packed, jovial WASP surfaces of two seemingly similar Connecticut families come loose to expose long-buried secrets, uncomfortable truths, and a monsoon of dysfunction. By the time the clouds part, Parker has illustrated with blistering wisdom how, for many of us, finding happiness―alone or with another―begins with first seeing who we’ve been in, and to, our families, and then deciding who it is we will be.” ―Bill Clegg, author of The End of the Day

“In All Are Welcome, Liz Parker vividly describes a young couple on the brink of their future who must also face their past when their destination beach wedding goes somewhat awry. Over the course of a tumultuous, rum-punch-fueled weekend, secrets are revealed and love is tested. Parker’s keen eye for detail and sense of humor had me both laughing and tearing up, and her sharp plot twists kept me guessing until the last page. With equal parts heart, drama, comedy, and emotion, All Are Welcome is a classic destination-wedding story turned on its head for a discernible modern reader.” ―Julia Spiro, author of Someone Else’s Secret

As head of Publishing at Verve Talent & Literary, Liz Parker has brokered deals for some of the most exciting names in publishing today, including Susan Fowler (Whistleblower), Emmy-Award winner and bestselling author Leah Remini (Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath), internationally bestselling author Suzanne Rindell (The Other Typist), and NYT bestselling author and screenwriter Mikki Daughtry (Five Feet Apart, All This Time). She has an innate sense for spotting compelling narratives. 

It turns out she also has a natural talent for writing them. In her debut novel, ALL ARE WELCOME (Lake Union Publishing; August 1, 2021), Parker has written a fabulously funny and keenly perceptive lesbian romantic comedy about a Bermuda destination wedding on the brink of disaster. 

“The story started when two elements collided: the story’s opening line, ‘Tiny was actually tiny,’ and my own small lesbian wedding,” says Liz Parker. “I come from a long line of WASPs, and while my own family is not like the McAllisters, there is inevitable humor in challenging the status quo. I wanted to write a book that featured gay characters who weren’t coming out – it was the characters around them who were still struggling. But I also think there is a spectrum of acceptance and growth that comes with a family’s first gay child, and I wanted to shine a light on that process – a process that is challenging, at times frustrating, and often very funny.“

Tiny McAllister never thought she’d get married. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t think girls from Connecticut married other girls. Yet here she is with Caroline, the love of her life, at their destination wedding on the Bermuda coast. In attendance―their respective families and a few choice friends. The conflict-phobic Tiny hopes for a beautiful weekend with her bride-to-be. But as the weekend unfolds, it starts to feel like there’s a skeleton in every closet of the resort.

From Tiny’s family members, who find the world is changing at an uncomfortable speed, to Caroline’s parents, who are engaged in conspiratorial whispers, to their friends, who packed secrets of their own―nobody seems entirely forthcoming. Not to mention the conspicuous no-show and a tempting visit from the past. What the celebration really needs now is a monsoon to help stir up all the long-held secrets, simmering discontent, and hidden agendas.

All Tiny wanted was to get married, but if she can make it through this squall of a wedding, she might just leave with more than a wife.

In ALL ARE WELCOME, Liz Parker has written a madcap romp that is also a wise, deliciously biting story about status, family, gay culture and true love. 

For further information, review or interview requests, please contact Jennifer Richards: Jen@otrpr.com.

ALL ARE WELCOME

by Liz Parker

Lake Union Publishing | August 1, 2021 | LGBTQ Humorous Fiction

Trade Paperback Original | $14.95 | 347 pp | ISBN: 978-1542029889

Kindle eBook | $4.99 | ASIN: B08LMPRK2X

Audiobook | $14.95 | 8 hours | ASIN: B08V7HHX2V