Jess Lourey, author of Quarry Girls
Genre Fiction Category, sponsored by Macalester College
Each week leading up to the 35th annual Minnesota Book Awards, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
The Quarry Girls takes place in 1977 St. Cloud, Minnesota. I was living in St. Cloud then, and it was important to me to capture the razor’s-edge dance of growing up in that time and place. There were friendships and music and dusty bike rides to the quarries, but there was also danger. I think The Quarry Girls captures that, beginning with the opening words:
“That summer, the summer of ’77, everything had edges. Our laughter, the sideways glances we gave and got. Even the air was blade-sharp. I figured it was because we were growing up. The law might not recognize it, but fifteen’s a girl and sixteen a woman and you get no map from one land to the next. They airdrop you in, booting a bag of Kissing Potions lip gloss and off-the-shoulder blouses after you. As you’re plummeting, trying to release your parachute and grab for that bag at the same time, they holler out you’re pretty, like they’re giving you some sort of gift, some vital key, but really, it’s meant to distract you from yanking your cord.
Girls who land broken are easy prey.”
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
The crime fiction community is incredibly supportive. I recommend connecting with it through Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, attending local meetings, and making friends with your fellow writers, pre-published and published. Also, you can’t beat The Loft for improving your writing game.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
Isabel Allende’s book Eva Luna has remained one of my favorites since I first read it three decades ago. I love all of Allende’s books, but Eva Luna draws me in and makes me feel like I can fly when I’m reading it.
Eva’s interior life is so rich, her voice so clear, and the descriptions are unimaginably original, so much so that I’ll reread a sentence multiple times in the hopes that I can absorb it. Truly a master class in writing.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
I’m afraid of sloths. This comes up more than you’d think for someone who lives in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Book Awards is a celebration of writers, readers – and libraries. We’d love if you would share thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
When I was a child, my family visited the St. Cloud Library every week, even after we moved 45 minutes away. My home life was an uncertain, unsafe experience in many ways, so that regular library visit was a lift raft. I’d check out the maximum number of books allowed, take them home, and devour them. Each book was escape, and every one of them–even the not-so-well-written ones–showed me a different way life could be.
I have to believe there are thousands of children having that same experience right now; what a gentle way to support and guide the next generation, particularly if the children are allowed to choose the books that interest them, free of censorship and judgment. I am forever grateful to libraries and librarians. They’re doing the good work.
Jess Lourey is an Amazon Charts bestselling, Edgar, Agatha, and Lefty-nominated, ITW Thriller and Anthony award-winning author. She’s a retired professor of writing and sociology, a recipient of the Loft’s Excellence in Teaching fellowship, and a TEDx presenter.