Unmentionables

Loewenstein's remarkable debut was selected as a Midwest Connections Pick for January and is the first book in a new imprint from Akashic curated by award-winning author Kaylie Jones (Speak Now). In August 1917, Marian Elliot Adams, a fiercely independent advocate for women's rights, is traveling with the "Chautauqua circuit," promoting their message of "sensible undergarments for women." When she takes to the stage one hot night in Caledonia, IL, her speech shocks the local residents, who are further disgusted when she falls from the stage and sprains her ankle, forcing her to stay in town for a week. One week turns into many, and Marian's presence reveals Caledonia's long-held but unspoken rules regarding women, African Americans, and social order. After befriending the town's newspaper publisher, Deuce Garland, and his stepdaughter Helen, Marian begins to question her own motives and must contemplate continuing her chosen life of a visitor always passing through, or being known in a small town.