March 8, 2013 Nashville author Ruta Sepetys talks with Chapter 16’s Stephen Usery about her latest novel, Out of the Easy. Sepetys is the author of the New York Times-bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, which won the 2012 Golden Kite Award and was a finalist for both the 2012 William C. Morris and Amelia Elizabeth Walden Awards. Out of the Easy follows seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine, the daughter of a prostitute. Josie longs to escape the underworld of New Orleans brothels in the 1950s. In this conversation, recorded the day after Mardi Gras, Sepetys discusses the immigrant experience in America, the “beauty of the American Dream,” and the way both deeply influenced her writing. She also talks about her career in the music business and a few family secrets of her own that inspired her to discover the dark places within her characters.
Click here to read Chapter 16’s review of Out of the Easy and here to read more about Sepetys and her award-winning work.
