Maryland Novelist Explores How Teens Cope with Parents Suffering From Mental Illness or Addictions

P.G. County Author K.L. Brady releases a new young adult novel, Soul of the Band: Making the Cut, is Book 1 in a three-part series exploring how African-American teens deal with mentally ill parents.
By: LadyLit Press
 
May 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Award-Winning Author of The Bum Magnet, Got a Right to Be Wrong, and Worst Impressions releases new novel, Soul of the Band, which follows music loving 16-year-old Brandy Jackson, who after years of coping with her mother’s mental illness gets a new start in a new town where she finds love, frenemies, a spot in an all-white high school marching band…and lots of trouble!

Brandy has had it up to here with "they"--the annoying voices inside her mother's head. She isolates herself from the dreaded schizophrenic episodes with Beethoven and her iPod. Her long-suppressed desire to learn music is squelched by the burden of mental illness, at least until she arrives home from school to find her belongings on the DC streets and her mother vanished. Fortunately, Aunt Charlie comes to her rescue and moves her to Mapleton, Ohio, where she begins a new life free of her troubled past—or so she thinks.

Brandy’s plans to fly under the radar at school in order to conceal her family's shame are quashed when Jenny Lee, her new next-door neighbor and a flutist, recognizes Brandy's musical obsession and urges her to join the all-white high school marching band. Brandy obliges and soon realizes she’s traded her old troubles for new ones. Now, she stands out like a chocolate chip floating in a sea of milk; she has less than three months to learn to play her dreaded tuba-—her only ticket to earn a spot on the band; and a near kiss with the Queen B’s boyfriend lands her in triple trouble with the popular chick clique.The ensuing drama will give her the strength rise above her circumstances—or leave her paralyzed in the shame of her past.

Says author K.L. Brady of her new novel, "Often a source of embarrassment and shame, mental illness is rarely discussed within the black community. I hope Soul of the Band offers an unique view on a teens coping such issues and  opens the lines of communication for meaningful, positive discourse."  

About the Author
Brady works as a Senior Technical Writer for a major government contracting firm.  She's an alumnus of the University of the District of Columbia and University of Maryland University College, earning a B.A. in Economics and M.B.A., respectively, and lives just outside of D.C. with her son, William.

Soul of the Band:Making the Cut is now available on Amazon & Barnes & Noble and www.ladylitpress.com. Trade Paperback * 5.5 x 8.5 * 250 pp * 12.95 * ISBN 978-0983920212.
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Source:LadyLit Press
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Tags:Novel, Books, Young Adult Novel, Young Adult Drama, Book, Marching Band, Mental Illness, PG County
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Location:Cheltenham - Maryland - United States
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