Local Author Robert Hicks Book Launch Will Support New Hope Academy

Robert Hicks is the New York Times Bestselling author of Widow of the South, and also has written other popular books.

His newest novel is being released with a special event at the Franklin Theatre on Sept. 15.

Hicks talks about his newest novel, The Orphan Mother, in this “book trailer:”

The Orphan Mother is the story of a woman’s quest for justice in the years following the Civil War. Mariah Reddick, a former Carnton Plantation slave, has quietly built a new life for herself in Franklin as a midwife. Amidst the chaos of Reconstruction, her only child is murdered. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead?

“I am a Southerner, and I have to write about race,” Hicks said in a Home Page interview earlier this summer. “It’s something so intertwined with who we are whether we are black or white. I needed to address. Mariah gave me the opportunity.

“The reality is I am a fiction writer and that means Mariah is not simply about Mariah Reddick. Mariah is about all voices and people who live in this world, whether they be in the South or this country or lived long ago or lived today.”

  The Orphan Mother is available at Landmark Booksellers and anywhere books are sold.  The Orphan Mother has been selected as the Franklin Community Read.

There is an event at the Franklin Theatre on Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) that will be an amazing evening of music and words to celebrate  The Orphan Mother.  Along with both choir and musicians, there will be readings from Hicks’ newest novel.

The event is a benefit for student scholarships at New Hope Academy, an economically and racially diverse private school in Franklin.

Each guest will receive a signed, first-edition of The Orphan Mother.  To purchase tickets, please visit the Franklin Theatre link http://bit.ly/2c7V8Wp.