Spotlight of The Girl From The Red Rose Motel by Susan Beckham Zurenda

PHOTO SOURCE:

TYPORAMA
***********    

THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL

SUSAN BECKHAM ZURENDA

************

ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.

 ************

September 5

Mercer University Press

 ************

PRAISE FOR THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL:

“This excellent novel gives the reader superb insight into how events at a high school can ripple out to reveal the alliances and divisions within a whole town. Zurenda’s characters are complex,

and their story is deeply moving without veering into sentimentality. Bravo!--Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Caretaker

“In this beautifully written novel, a recently widowed English teacher takes a new job at a local high school, and we become deeply immersed in a world of privileged and poor students, parents who try to censor lessons, and considerable classroom challenges. The Girl From the Red Rose Motel is an authentic portrayal of life in a high school and beyond, as a young couple in love seeks their teacher’s support amid a surfeit of obstacles. This emotionally complex story is impossible to put down.”--Patti Callahan Henry, author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

Utterly absorbing! Readers will root for plucky young Zell, and book clubs will have a lively discussion with the surprise ending.

--Dianna Rostad, USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of You Belong Here Now.

Susan Zurenda writes with authority, heart, and warmth about the connections we make, the impact of social and moral issues on individuals from all walks of life, and how love often comes to us when we least expect it. The Girl From the Red Rose Motel reveals humanity at its best and worst in this engaging, skillfully crafted story of hope, compassion, and resilience.--Donna Everhart, author of The Saints of Swallow Hill and The Education of Dixie Dupree

Compelling, timely, and full of heart, The Girl From the Red Rose Motel expertly weaves the stories of a concerned English teacher and two of her students—one living in a rundown motel and the other in a mansion—whose irrepressible love triumphs over social differences of status and wealth.  You don’t want to miss this splendid Southern novel and its astonishing conclusion.--Karen White, author of The House on Prytania

************ 

ABOUT THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL:

Impoverished high school junior Hazel Smalls and privileged senior Sterling Lovell would never ordinarily meet. But when both are punished with in-school suspension, Sterling finds himself drawn to the gorgeous, studious girl seated nearby, and an unlikely relationship begins. 

Set in 2012 South Carolina, the novel interlaces the stories of Hazel, living with her homeless family in the rundown Red Rose Motel; Sterling, yearning to break free from his wealthy parents’ expectations; and recently widowed Angela Wilmore, their stern but compassionate English teacher.

Hazel hides her homelessness from Sterling until he discovers her cleaning the motel’s office when he goes with his slumlord father to unfreeze the motel’s pipes one frigid January morning. With her secret revealed, their relationship deepens. Angela—who has

her own struggles in a budding romance with the divorced principal—offers Hazel the support her family can’t provide.

Navigating between privilege and poverty, vulnerability and strength, all three must confront what they need from themselves and each other as Hazel gains the courage to

oppose boundaries and make a bold, life-changing decision at novel’s end.

Gripping and richly drawn, The Girl from the Red Rose Motel explores the complex bonds between adults and teenagers and the power of the families we both inherit and create. Inspired by the author’s experiences teaching in a South Carolina high school, the novel is also an unflinching, authentic look at the challenges faced by America’s public school teachers and the struggles of the thousands of homeless children in motels who live, precariously and almost invisibly, amid the nation’s most affluent communities.

“Together, their complicated relationship shaped the two of them in ways they couldn't imagine."

************

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Susan Beckham Zurenda taught English for 33 years on the college level and at the high school level to AP students.

She is author of the award-winning Southern literary novel, Bells for Eli, and the recipient of numerous awards for her short fiction, including the South Carolina Fiction Awards, twice. 

Her second novel, The Girl From the Red Rose Motel (Mercer University Press, September 2023), was the recipient of the 2024 Patricia Winn Award in Southern Fiction, Gold Medal winner in the 2024 IPPY Awards for Southeast Fiction, a 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, a Shelf Unbound 2023 Notable 100 books, and a finalist in the American Book Fest Awards.

Her upcoming novel, No Way Out But Through, is scheduled for publication in August 2026.

The author lives in Spartanburg, SC.

************

FIND SUSAN:

Facebook

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Website

************