Destination: Anywhere! Featured Author

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke is the Featured Selection for the 2012 Adult Winter Reading Program, operating under the theme Destination: Anywhere!

About this Book:
Houston lawyer Jay Porter runs a floundering small-time practice – but his financial fate becomes the least of his worries after he rescues a floundering woman from drowning in the Buffalo Bayou. Suddenly, trouble comes for Jay from all sides as he investigates a murder near the bayou that leads him to the doorsteps of Houston’s elite and onto secreted oil fields. Despite escalating threats, Jay refuses to involve the police – certain that his past as a Civil Rights activist alongside Stokely Carmichael as well as his own narrow acquittal from murder charges would bring down the law on him.

Click here [1] to reserve your copy of Black Water Rising now!

Meet the Author: Attica Locke joins in a celebration of the 2012 Winter Reading season with a discussion of her debut novel on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, located at 4801 Main St.

Black Water Rising was nominated for the Orange Prize in the UK, which prompted a glowing capsule review published in The Independent on May 23, 2010 [2]; also in 2010, Locke earned a NAACP Image Awards nomination in the category for outstanding literary debuts.

The Los Angeles Times also nominated the novel for its own annual book award – that paper’s initial book review is published here [3]. The New York Times also published a captivating feature piece on the author and her novel on July 2, 2009 – that article is available online [4].

In September 2009, Locke gave National Public Radio host Steve Inskeep a tour of Houston along the Buffalo Bayou [5] – the scene where Black Water Rising begins. (This link includes an excerpt from the novel’s first chapter.)

Make Black Water Rising a part of your 2012 Winter Reading experience.