Set in North Carolina during the turbulent Civil Rights Era, The Ada Decades is a lesbian feminist historical novel spanning 70 years with 11 interconnected stories about the life of Ada Jane Shook. Author Paula Martinaccalls her new book a historical novel-in-stories which chronicles the life of a school librarian who encounters segregation, the paradox of religion and her true love, Camillia Lively, during the Pre-Stonewall south.
Ada is a 1st Amendment-wielding school librarian, and as a girl from a Carolina mill family is 12 years old in 1947 when she finds a secret photograph that has a profound impact on her life. Paula Martinac tells the adventures of a principled, compassionate, resilient lesbian living amidst racial tensions and social & political repression.
Paula Martinac is a Lambda Award winning novelist. She has published 3 non-fiction books on lesbian and gay culture & politics as well as numerous essays, short stories and articles. Paula is also a playwright and currently teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
A favorite quote of the author comes from Eleanor Roosevelt: ” with the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
Other works by Paula Martinac include:
Her first novel, OUT OF TIME, won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian fiction
THE QUEEREST PLACES: A NATIONAL GUIDE TO GAY & LESBIAN HISTORIC SITES (Paula is a trained historian and served as advisor to the National Park Services LGBT Heritage Initiative)
LESBIAN AND GAY BOOK OF LOVE & MARRIAGE
This originally appeared at the Through The Eyes of Women blog.
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