Rhody-written reads

I live here.

I work here.

I love it here!

The East Side Makes the Perfect Backdrop for this thriller Vanessa Lillie’s Little Voices o!ers murder, intrigue, and a plot twist you won’t forget

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As we emerge from long weeks of home confinement and the weather improves, how uplifting to wander our beloved East Side streets again. As you do, let me suggest a way to make these jaunts even more enjoyable: Pick up Little Voices, the debut thriller novel written by East Side author Vanessa Lillie. Fast-paced and well-written, much of the action takes place right here in Providence on streets you’ll recognize, and involves characters that are at least suggestive of felons we all know.

In the opening scene, Devon Barges, a forensic attorney in the midst of di!cult pregnancy, is rushed down Blackstone Boulevard to Women and Infants for an emergency C-section. At about the same time, the body of one of her best friends has been found in Swan Point Cemetery. And, as she is soon to find out, the chief suspect in the crime is a man who had been a close friend of hers in college. Except the more she tries to help, the guiltier he looks.

Soon, we find ourselves engrossed in dual stories of the new mom struggling with post

partum while trying to find time to use her legal and investigative skills to solve what proves to be a complex, multi-layered case that takes her into the inner workings of local politics, the morality of investigative journalism, and the ultimately complicated realities of the fishing industry in nearby New Bedford.

Lillie’s attention to and understanding of the details in all three areas is impressive. “My husband and I came here about nine years ago and in many ways I think of my book as a dark and twisted love letter to my adopted state,” she says. “I was nervous though, because I know if I didn’t get the details right, I’d hear about it.”

Little Voices is a page-turner as we join Barges following increasingly contradictory leads – some false, some not – of the crime. Then, for good measure, she throws in a surprise twist at the end you’ll probably never see coming.

Happily, we can report that Lillie’s second book, For the Best, will be released in September and takes place on our home turf as well. Lucky us.

Summer Reads by Rhody Writers By Robert Isenberg

SOMEONE ELSE

Sarah is a teenager on the brink. Her parents are unstable. Her small town is brimming with secret inner lives. Her friend, recently dead from suicide, has returned to haunt her. Mary Paula Hunter’s debut novel is an unsettling character study set in the late 1960s. Hunter herself is a veteran dancer and Michigan native who lives in Providence, and her book is a detailed tour of historic East Lansing.

BURN DOWN THIS WORLD

When Celeste and Reid reunite, there’s a lot of friction between the two siblings. Their wounds run deep, and Celeste’s frustrations with her own life make it doubly hard to deal with her brother’s extended visit. Rhode Island author and former director of the Ocean State Writing Conference Tina Egnoski’s fourth book is an emotional family drama embedded in the Vietnam Era.

WHEN THE BABIES CAME TO STAY

Nobody knows where the babies came from, but the local librarian decides to keep them, and the whole town teaches them life lessons. Rhode Island illustrator Jeanette Bradley provided the colorful illustrations for this lighthearted children’s allegory by Christine McDonnell.

THE FISH AND THE DOVE

Brace yourself: Mary-Kim Arnold’s poetry collection is a no-holds-barred exploration of womanhood, ancient mythology, and the Korean-American experience. Arnold teaches writing at Brown, and her second volume is a layered showcase of her lyrical style. Note: Proceeds from the book go to The Wedding Cake House art center.

STEEL HAND, COLD HEART

In Dark Age Scandinavia, teenaged Carina is raised by a clan of warrior women, but she struggles to earn her keep. Scituate author Rachel Menard packs her novel with magic, adventure, and budding romance. Steel Hand, Cold Heart won the Grand Prize at the Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards.

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