I have a lot of drafts for young adult books (I just need to find the time to write them all.) But Girl in Blue is the one that is most important to me. I hope to finish it and have it published by 2024.
Girl in Blue
When the Savannah Times moves across town in 2001 after ninety-four years in the same musty building, aspiring journalist Amy Delaney finds a box in the basement closet. She is immediately intrigued by the headline of a newspaper dated Christmas Day 1933, "Girl in Blue. Killed by Train. Unknown but not forgotten," written by Ben Galloway, the journalist she has tried to emulate with her own writing.
Underneath the newspaper, she finds a pair of white leather gloves. The tad inside reads, "Flora Tennyson," and when she tries on the gloves, a delicate gold locket pierces her finger. The inscription inside reads, "Sylvie, my best friend forever. Love, Flora."
As Amy takes a chance and follows the story of the Girl in Blue, she finds Flora Tennyson at a retirement home in Montana. Amy puts the phone on speaker, takes out her notepad, and begins writing. But through guilt and remorse, Flora will not tell her what happened ar the train station, that ultimately killed the Girl in Blue.
Amy realizes the story she unfolds between Flora and her black friends, Sylvie during the 1930's has similar parallels in her own life decades later when Amy's best friend Freddie is afraid to be openly gay for fear of how she will be treated by society.
What Flora and Amy have in common is their belief that strong friendships are crucial during times of social prejudices and that actions to end inequality speak louder than words.