Achance encounter at a Nashville dinner party five years ago planted the seed for Susan Gregg Gilmore’s second novel.
“The woman seated across from me introduced herself as Zee,” said Gilmore. “When I commented on what an unusual name she had, she said her full name was Bezellia and she was the fifth-generation Bezellia in her family.”
“Right then I knew a fifth-generation Bezellia would be in my next book,” said the author.
That novel, “The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove” (Shaye Areheart Books, $23), will be released Tuesday. The novel already has been selected a 2010 Southern Independent Booksellers Association summer pick.
Much like “The Help,” Bezellia’s story juxtaposes the societal restrictions on women of the 1960s with the civil-rights struggle of Nashville’s black community. Only Gilmore’s heroine becomes more embroiled in racism through an interracial romance with the son of the family’s handyman.
The author begins a 24-city book tour Monday that continues through the end of October. As part of that tour, she will participate in Nashville’s Southern Festival of Books Oct. 8-10.
“Humanities Tennessee has invited Susan Gilmore to participate in the Southern Festival of Books twice,” said Serenity Gerbman, director of Humanities Tennessee’s literature and language programs.
“We consider it part of our mission to assist Tennessee writers in promoting their work. In Susan’s case, the new novel has a Nashville connection that we know will be of particular interest to all festivalgoers.”