The Say So

From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses comes a major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras.
Edie Carrigan didn't plan to "get herself" pregnant, much less end up in a home for unwed mothers. In 1950s North Carolina, illegitimate pregnancy is kept secret, wayward women require psychiatric cures, and adoption is always the best solution. Not even Edie’s closest friend, Luce Waddell, understands what Edie truly wants: to keep and raise the baby.
Twenty-five years later, Luce is a successful lawyer, and her daughter Meera now faces the same decision Edie once did. Like Luce, Meera is fiercely independent and plans to handle her unexpected pregnancy herself. Along the way, Meera finds startling secrets about her mother’s past, including the long-ago friendship with Edie. As the three women’s lives intertwine and collide, the story circles age-old questions about female awakening, reproductive choice, motherhood, adoption, sex, and missed connections.
For fans of Brit Bennett's The Mothers and Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything, The Say So is a timely novel that asks: how do we contend with the rippling effects of the choices we've made? With equal parts precision and tenderness, Franks has crafted a sweeping epic about the coming of age of the women’s movement that reverberates through the present day.

About the author

Julia Franks is the author of Over the Plain Houses, which was an NPR Best Book of 2016 and was awarded five literary prizes. She has published essays in outlets like the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and The Bitter Southerner. While her roots are in the Southeast, she spent years teaching literature in the US and abroad. She lives in Atlanta.

Summary

From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses comes a major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras.
Edie Carrigan didn't plan to "get herself" pregnant, much less end up in a home for unwed mothers. In 1950s North Carolina, illegitimate pregnancy is kept secret, wayward women require psychiatric cures, and adoption is always the best solution. Not even Edie’s closest friend, Luce Waddell, understands what Edie truly wants: to keep and raise the baby.
Twenty-five years later, Luce is a successful lawyer, and her daughter Meera now faces the same decision Edie once did. Like Luce, Meera is fiercely independent and plans to handle her unexpected pregnancy herself. Along the way, Meera finds startling secrets about her mother’s past, including the long-ago friendship with Edie. As the three women’s lives intertwine and collide, the story circles age-old questions about female awakening, reproductive choice, motherhood, adoption, sex, and missed connections.
For fans of Brit Bennett's The Mothers and Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything, The Say So is a timely novel that asks: how do we contend with the rippling effects of the choices we've made? With equal parts precision and tenderness, Franks has crafted a sweeping epic about the coming of age of the women’s movement that reverberates through the present day.

Foreword

Publicity and Outreach
AJC:"Stay cool this summer with these hot new books," 5/24/23
CONFIRMED: Interview on All Things Considered, Georgia Public Radio
CONFIRMED: Interview on City Lights, WABE
CONFIRMED: Chapter16 (Tennessee papers), review timed to pub.
CONFIRMED: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, review timed to pub.
CONFIRMED: ArtsATL interview timed to pub

National author tour

• Early reader review campaign via Goodreads, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
• ARC mailings to booksellers, librarians, media, and influencers
• Robust Indie Next campaign to GA, SC, NC, VA stores, and national.
• Influencer-led Instagram campaign using the hashtag #thesayso
• ARCs at tradeshows including SIBA
• Seeking coverage in monthly magazines including O Magazine, EW, Vogue, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, GQ, and newspapers The New York Times, The Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, NPR and more.
• Coverage on literary sites including: LitHub, Electric Lit, the Chicago Review of Books
• Off-the-book essay placement including essays about adoption and reproductive freedom
• Promotion through the Cold Mountain Fund Book Series including limited events with Series funder Charles Frazier.

Confirmed Events:
3/21: SIBA March Madness, Spartanburg, SC
6/6: Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur, GA
6/11: A Cappella, Atlanta, GA
6/13: Hub City Bookshop, Spartanburg, SC
6/14: Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Knoxville, TN
6/15: AMY Library System / Plott Hound Books, Burnsville, NC
6/18: Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC 
6/20: Auburn Oil Co. Booksellers, Auburn, AL
6/21: Page and Palette, Fairhope, AL
6/28: Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC
6/29: Scuppernong Books, Greensboro, NC
8/3: Gwinnett Library, Duluth, GA
11/4: South Carolina Writers Association, Columbia, SC

Product details

• Authors: Julia Franks
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 06.06.2023, delayed
• EAN: 9798885740074
• ISBN: 979-8-88574-007-4
• No. of pages: 368
• Series: Cold Mountain Fund Series
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Coming of Age, FICTION / Literary, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Adoption & Fostering