Fifteen years ago, a talented editor at Random House took a chance on naive young wannabe writer, and saw potential in the non-fiction manuscript he was trying to pitch. This editor was Christine Pride, and the proposal turned into Tell Me Where It Hurts. Without Christine I would not have had an opportunity to share my stories, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Interestingly, Christine has become an author herself, teaming up with Jo Piazza to write "We Are Not Like Them." The story centers around the lifelong friendship between Riley, a Black news anchor and her friend since childhood, Jen. As the novel opens, Riley has just moved back to Philadelphia where they grew up, and Jen is pregnant with her first child after years of trying. The two friends are excited to live in the same city and reconnect and then Jen's husband's Kevin, a white police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. This tragedy forces the friends into a painful reckoning with serious stakes for their relationship and their own lives.
Christine has a gift for words - she has consistently made me look far better than I deserve - and I have no doubt that her book will be an enormous success. I wish I had been able to keep the voice mail she left me (pre-iphone days) letting me know I had made it onto the New York Times Bestseller list. Hopefully I'll get to return the sentiment!
'We Are Not Like Them' comes out next Tuesday, October 5th.