Bookanistas: OUT OF THE EASY by Ruta Sepetys

With apologies for the brief review, I've been battling the flu. Please don't mistake brevity for lack of enthusiasm for this lovely novel!

Plot without spoilers: In the bawdy French Quarter of 1950s New Orleans, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine's, a prostitute's daughter, struggles to live a straight-and-narrow life as bookstore clerk, avoid the dangerous cast of characters with whom her mother gets involved and find a way to go to college in New England.

Of literary interest: This book has some fantastic secondary characters that Sepetys uses to create parallel explorations of the themes of family secrets and why we protect them.

Finally, just gotta say: This novel is an elegant and powerful love letter to New Orleans, to the beauty of books, and to determined girls with limited means and limitless dreams.


Here's what some other Bookanistas are buzzing about this week...

Katy Upperman  praises THE TRAGEDY PAPER

Debra Driza wonders at WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Jessica Love thinks THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY is terrific

Stasia Ward Kehoe delves into OUT OF THE EASY