After Erica hired one of the emailing agents to represent her, she began to suspect the agent of not rooting for The Wet Nurse’s Tale to actually win the contest. This was puzzling, until we realized that the winner would receive a non-negotiable book contract with Penguin. Erica’s agent apparently thought she could negotiate a far more favorable contract; and though we were disappointed to learn that Erica wouldn’t be going to New York City as one of the three winners, we were elated when the agent turned out to be right. Thanks to Erica’s agent’s negotiating skills, The Wet Nurse’s Tale will be published by Putnam and will arrive in stores next August.
You can preorder the book on Amazon’s website while also discovering tidbits about Erica herself. Her graduation from a certain university in Durham notwithstanding, Erica’s one of us. She has a long history in our community, including eight years spent reviewing books on WUNC, 20 years managing the Bull’s Head Bookshop at UNC and many, many years of residence in Carrboro.
Fellow writing group members Edith, Rebecca, Gina, Betsy and I are eagerly anticipating the debut of Erica’s novel. So should you, if you’re a fan of well-researched, tightly written historical novels and quirky heroines with ironic senses of humor. I can’t wait.

