Coming Clean and Down the Steep with Beth Uznis Johnson and A.D. Nauman

Discover your next riveting fiction read when two Chicago authors visit to share their novels with us in Ann Arbor.

This event is free to attend. However it helps us in planning to receive your RSVP. 

About Coming Clean:

Dawn, a self-employed cleaning lady in upstate New York, agrees to pose in the houses she cleans for her friend Matthew’ s provocative photography project. Over the course of one week, she and Matthew scour the contents of each home to find inspiration but what she uncovers instead is an unexpected connection to the people who live there: from the insecure Bridget Riley, and the recent immigrant Wei Chen, to the pretentious Robert McIntyre. But it’ s the troubled housewife, Barb Turner, and the chaos of her life that finally force Dawn to confront her darkest secret about the death of her fiancé . Coming Clean is a novel of forgiveness, family, and fresh starts.

Not able to join us? Order your copy here: https://www.schulerbooks.com/b...

About Beth Uznis Johnson:

Beth Uznis Johnson has published fiction and creative nonfiction in Massachusetts Review, Broad Street, Cincinnati Review, Story Quarterly, Mississippi Review, Southwest Review, Gargoyle, the Rumpus, Best American Essays 2018, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the 2017 McGinnis-Ritchie Award from Southwest Review and a finalist in the 2019 Mississippi Review fiction contest. She has an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte and lives in Chicago. Her first novel, Coming Clean, was released by Regal House Publishing on January 9, 2024.

About Down the Steep:

"An engaging novel and a beautiful coming-of-age story." ~Rebecca Makkai, author of Pulitzer-finalist The Great Believers

The year is 1963 in small-town Virginia. Willa McCoy is a strong-minded teenager who longs to follow in the footsteps of her father, an important member of the KKK. Willa believes the Klan is daring and brave—like the father she idolizes. She wants only to rise in his esteem; he wants only to keep everyone in their place. When Willa is sent to babysit for the new minister’s wife, Ruth Swanson, she finds herself at Ruth’s kitchen table with Langston Jones, a smart young Black man. At first they despise each other, but they have one thing in common: they both love Ruth. When Langston reveals a secret he’s discovered--that Willa’s father is having an affair--the once-loyal daughter plots to destroy her father’s reputation, unwittingly setting into motion a series of events that leads to her family’s demise.

Not able to join us? Order your copy here: https://www.schulerbooks.com/b...

About A.D. Nauman:

A.D. Nauman is an author and educator whose second novel, Down the Steep, was recently released by Regal House Publishing. The novel has won the 2024 FAW Literary Prize, is a Midland Authors Award semi-finalist, and has been nominated for Great Group Reads. Nauman’s short fiction, appearing in many literary journals, has been recognized in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize anthology, produced by Stories on Stage, broadcast on NPR, and granted an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Her first novel, Scorch, was re-released in an ebook StoryBundle in 2019. Currently living in Chicago, Nauman grew up mostly in Tidewater, Virginia.