ATTICA LOCKE AND THE DEEP SOUTH

from We Love This Book

The Orange Prize-nominated author Attica Locke on crime, class and second novel syndrome American author Attica Locke picked up an Orange Prize nomination in 2009 for her debut novel Black Water Rising, a much-praised literary thriller set in 1980s Houston against a backdrop of politics and corruption. Locke’s second novel, The Cutting Season, is a murder mystery which also tackles the weighty themes of race, power and class. Although the story takes place in 2009, The Cutting Season is steeped in the troubled past of the American Deep South. On her ability to seamlessly meld a crime story with serious socio-political themes, she says, over the phone from her home in LA: “I think you can get people to think about things that are new, or uncomfortable, if you take them on a journey that feels vaguely familiar.” MORE >