TYPORAMA
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In
this explosive novel about a decades-old mystery, shocking revelations
of the past and the secrets of three women will be spilled when a small Midwest town announces a DNA lottery.
“With an irresistible premise that gets more unsettling by the page, Fortune is
so much more than a random game of chance. Every ticket is a potential
clue; every character has a fiercely guarded secret. You won’t be able
to look away until the final name is drawn.” ―Jessica Strawser, author of A Million Reasons Why
“This emotional and tense debut held me locked in its grip through each
rollercoaster twist! Steil's confident prose immerses the reader in a
small town's past―and the lives of four formidable women―using the
modern premise of blood for money in way I did not
see coming. Clear your weekend then prepare to be sucked into the
heart-stopping secrets of
Fortune.” ―Elle Marr, Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Family Bones
ABOUT FORTUNE:
Fortune imagines what could happen if a DNA lottery was used to find evidence for a cold case involving the remains of an unidentified infant.
When Edie Parker’s billionaire husband dies in a freak accident on the highway, she finds a key to a safe-deposit box in the bag of her husband’s personal items that a nurse hands to her before she leaves the hospital.
She had always thought that they told each other everything and yet when she unlocks the box at the bank that same day, blood from the accident still on her clothes, all she finds is a photo with Baby Ava? written on the back along with the names Cleo Song, Alexandra Collins, and Jemma Slater.
One month after the death of her husband, Edie announces that she is sponsoring a DNA lottery.
A single drop of blood is all that is required for a chance to win $46 million.
Is it really just a philanthropic gesture from the billionaire widow to help solve a local mystery?
Some suspect a darker motive behind the DNA lottery, shaking up idyllic Rosemary Hills, Iowa.
Right after the blood lottery is announced, three local women fall under suspicion of knowing something about the night Baby Ava’s body was dumped in 2004, and their long held, carefully kept secrets threaten to spill out too.
The three women had been friends as children, but as friendships sometimes do, they grew apart over time.
Now, in 2022, Cleo Song is a divorced single mom forced to return to her hometown and accept a strange job reading to a silent, physically disabled recluse she is instructed never to speak to or look at; Jemma Danowski is a controversial state senator whose reelection campaign and teenage daughter have her on edge; and Alex Mitchell, a divorce attorney, copes with a crumbling marriage of her own and the suffocating presence of a cold, overbearing mother.
Soon, unimaginable revelations of the past will collide with the present―and not just for Cleo, Jemma, and Alex.
In this seemingly ordinary community, they aren’t the only ones with long-buried secrets.
Won Steil’s exciting debut entry into the suspense genre does not disappoint.************
A Conversation with Ellen Won Steil, Author of FORTUNE
Q: How did you get into writing a novel?
A: I’ve always loved writing, but I didn’t know I wanted to seriously write until after law school. I got my first “adult” job and found myself asking: there has to be more than this, right?
I forced myself to dig deep and figure out what would truly satisfy. So, I thought back on what I did for pure enjoyment as a child. I would write stories for fun on one of those old IBM computers for hours. No one made me do this. I wanted to do it. It stemmed from there and I sat down and literally picked up where I left off from all those years ago. A lot of sweat and tears from that point until now (a story in and of itself). But having my debut novel published can only be described as a dream. It still doesn’t feel real, and I don’t think it ever will.
Q: Where did you get the idea for FORTUNE?
A: My ideas come through confluence. It takes bits and pieces to eventually come together. I wish I was someone who could have a big “aha” moment idea but that doesn’t seem to be how my brain works creatively. I wrote FORTUNE Summer 2020 during the pandemic. I was pregnant with my second child (I oddly seem to write the darkest stories when I’m pregnant!). And I was coming to terms with my oldest not being a baby anymore. There is such a loss mothers experience with that. Motherhood is so bittersweet. I wanted characters who emphasized this theme as it played out on the suspense stage.
But I also knew that suspense was (and still is) a very dense genre. Particularly domestic suspense and there had to be something else to grab the reader—something fresh and intriguing. I came across a headline about the Golden State Killer and how DNA and genealogy helped nab him. I remember thinking: what would happen if this happened in a suspense story? My curiosity sparked an idea for solving a crime in a small-town setting using some form of mass DNA. How would that work? What would the stakes be? This melded into the dark, twisted tale in the Midwest that is FORTUNE.
Q: The book alludes to the bittersweetness of motherhood through its three main characters. How much of your own life influenced this?
A: I was very pregnant writing this book and I’m sure all the hormones and fears during the pandemic played into this theme. For almost any parent during the pandemic, everything about parenting both good and bad was put under a microscope. I definitely think this spilled out on the pages for me. There is a thread woven through the three female leads and how they handle this bittersweet journey. Cleo, Alex, and Jemma are very different women, yet they share this unique bond in both being mothers and trauma from their pasts.
Q: Do you think a DNA lottery could happen in real life?
A: I think it’s in the realm of possibility. Which is what makes it a fascinating piece in the book. What is there to stop someone with means to holding such a lottery? Would it really be a bad thing if some form of this happened and solved an actual crime? I like how it opens up interesting questions for the reader. What would they do if faced with the option to participate in a DNA lottery? Sometimes when fiction starts to slide into reality, it can increase the chill factor.
Q: There is a particular scene (without giving any spoilers) that is quite heart wrenching. Was that difficult to write and how intentional were you in making this emotional?
A: Yes, without giving too much away this scene was pretty hard to write. I really put myself smack in the shoes of this character and what she was going through. As a mother, I imagined all the emotions she would have and how heart breaking it would be. There are only two times I’ve ever actually cried while writing a scene and this was one of them.
Q: Millennial nostalgia is a continual theme in flashback chapters. Was writing this a bit like going down memory lane?
A: There are little details from myself, growing up in the Midwest as a millennial that I think a lot of readers can relate to. I did have fun thinking back to trends in the early 2000s. Tube tops, bootcut jeans, and a time when social media didn’t really exist. I’m sure most millennials can remember using dial-up Internet and AIM chat being their lifeline to friends. I love flashback chapters, particularly childhood ones because I think what happens to a character as a child speaks volumes to their intentions in the present.
Q: One of the main characters, Cleo Song, is Korean American. Do you think this speaks to readers who are also children of immigrants?
A: Through Cleo, I highlighted some of my heritage and experience growing up Korean American. My high school was predominantly white and there are a few moments in the book that reflect some of the challenges I experienced. As a child of immigrants, you never really quite fit into either world. This can feel isolating at times. Despite some of these difficulties, it also brought out such a strength and uniqueness that I appreciate now and would never change.
There is a huge audience of readers who are those first-generation children who understand what that was like and how that shaped them into the who they are today. My hope is these readers feel seen and heard through these scenes, even if fictional.
Q: Why do you love writing suspense?
A: I might be in the minority in this, but I believe suspense is one of the most emotional genres in fiction. There is something so rich about dark themes and plotlines working with complex characters who surprise you at every turn. For me the characters are what I reach for the most when both reading and writing. We all have a dark side somewhere in there. These secret desires and thoughts get teased out in suspense stories in ways we don’t really experience in real life. And that is why I think dark suspense stories play into our hearts more than we realize.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ellen Won Steil grew up in Iowa in a Korean American family. She earned her BA in journalism from Drake University and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.
She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two young sons. She believes most good stories have at least a hint of darkness in them.
For more
information, visit
www.ewsteil.com.
Twitter:
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