Even before her acclaimed debut novel, Brit Bennett had drawn attention for her forceful essays about racial injustice, police violence, and segregation for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other outlets. Last October’s release of The Mothers made her a star.
 
Hailed by The Washington Post as “fantastic … a book that feels alive on the page,” it revolves around a smart, pretty 17-year-old who endures her mother’s suicide, becomes pregnant by the son of the local church pastor, and opts for an abortion – secrets that reverberate through her life and the largely African-American community around her. The “mothers” are a group of gossipy church ladies who serve as the story’s narrators.
 
Bennett, who holds a master’s degree in fiction from the University of Michigan, discusses her writing in a presentation co-presented by Rainy Day Books.