Light-skinned-ed Girl

27 Authors, 27 Books to Win!

27 authors have banded together to put together a year’s worth of reading for 2 lucky winners. Here are the rules:

Sign-up for the contest by leaving your name and email address below. Every entrant will have a chance to win 27 books.

In order to win as many books as possible, you must add each book to your Goodreads shelf through the links provided below. Click the link and then click the WANT TO READ button below the book’s image.  If you add all 27 books and you win, then you’ll get 27 books. If you only add 2, then you only get 2, etc.  (Note: if all you have done is “enter”, and you are chosen, you will win one book of your choice among the 27.)

The original contest will be for 2 winners; for each 500 entry milestone we will add another winner with a maximum of 5 winners. So when we get to 500 entries, there will be 3 winners. 1000 will be 4 winners, 1500 and over will be 5 winners. The winners will be chosen by random number generation and will be contacted through the email address they provided. US and Canada only.  Runs March 15-22, 2013. (Note: some books may not be available until their publication dates.)

1. Click here to add HIDDEN by Catherine McKenzie to your Goodreads shelf
2. Click here to add SEDUCTION by MJ Rose to your Goodreads shelf
3. Click here to add THE UNFINISHED WORK OF ELIZABETH D by Nichole Bernier
4. Click here to add THE COMFORT OF LIES by Randy Susan Myers to your Goodreads shelf
5. Click here to add IN NEED OF A GOOD WIFE by Kelly O’Connor McNees to your Goodreads shelf
6. Click here to add ORPHAN TRAIN by Christina Baker Kline to your Goodreads shelf
7. Click here to add GLOW by Jessica Maria Tuccelli to your Goodreads shelf
8. Click here to add BY FIRE BY WATER by Mitchell James Kaplan to your Goodreads shelf
9. Click here to add THE WEDNESDAY DAUGHTERS by Meg Waite Clayton to your Goodreads shelf
10. Click here to add MURDER BELOW MONT PARNASSE by Cara Black to your Goodreads shelf
11. Click here to add THE LAST WILL OF MOIRA LEAHY by Therese Walsh to your Goodreads shelf
12. Click here to add THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS by Katherine Howe to your Goodreads shelf
13. Click here to add AFTER YOU by Julie Buxbaum to your Goodreads shelf
14. Click here to add A SIMPLE THING by Kathleen McCleary to your Goodreads shelf
15. Click here to add KITCHEN CHINESE by Ann Mah to your Goodreads shelf
16. Click here to add THE DOCTOR AND THE DIVA by Adrienne McDonnell to your Goodreads shelf
17. Click here to add WHY CAN’T I BE YOU by Allie Larkin to your Goodreads shelf
18. Click here to add NO ONE YOU KNOW by Michelle Richmond
19. Click here to add THE SHORTEST WAY HOME by Juliette Fay to your Goodreads shelf
20. Click here to add STUDIO SAINT-EX by Ania Szado to your Goodreads shelf
21. Click here to add HOUR OF THE RAT by Lisa Brackmann to your Goodreads shelf
22. Click here to add THE SEARCH ANGEL by Tish Cohen to your Goodreads shelf
23. Click here to add THE BIRD SISTERS by Rebecca Rasmussen to your Goodreads shelf
24. Click here to add THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER by Vincent Lam to your Goodreads shelf
25. Click here to add DEATH IN THE FLOATING CITY by Tasha Alexander to your Goodreads shelf
26. Click here to add THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by Heidi Durrow to your Goodreads shelf
27. Click here to add THE PAINTED GIRLS by Cathy Marie Buchanan to your Goodreads shelf

 

The Real Story that Inspired The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

I am often asked about the real story that inspired The Girl Who Fell From the Sky.  I will never tell.

First, I feel incredibly protective of the real girl.  Yes, there is a real girl out there somewhere.  She deserves to live her life without a reminder of that horrible day, that horrible tragedy.  And it's not entirely clear that she even would remember what happened.  It's very likely that she suffered traumatic amnesia.  And then beyond that--the story that I have written is not her story--I did try to do that initially but it didn't work.  I didn't know enough about her.  So I wrote about what I knew: I wrote about growing up black and Danish and feeling like America's ideas of race and culture divorced me from my mom because people couldn't see her in me.

I write this today because I woke up to read the horrifying story about the Harlem mother who jumped from an eight-story building with her baby in her arms and the child survived.  I received a ton of messages from readers about the story.  It was as if they wanted a moment to grieve with me because I understood what that meant because of my book.  I'm not sure.  But I was glad to get their messages and not feel so alone in the sadness I felt about another woman feeling so unsure that she could protect and take care of her child she thought it best to take him out of the world too.

This post is a bit of ramble--written in the heat of grief and bewilderment--but there is one message I want to be very clear: to any sleuthing readers who want to find the "real girl" who was the inspiration of the book.  STOP!  DON'T!  Give her that gift of peace and of grace.  Know simply that her story of survival inspired the survivor in me and maybe in you too.

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