Jacqueline Friedland is making it count...plus a book giveaway

We are thrilled to have Jacqueline Friedland back at CLC to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, Counting Backwards! Melissa chose one of Jacqueline's novels, He Gets that From Me, as a top pick a few years ago and is excited to read this one soon! It sounds like an intriguing story with a blend of current events and historical fiction. Thanks to Get Red PR, we have TWO copies to give away!

Jacqueline Friedland graduated Magna Cum Laude from both the University of Pennsylvania and NYU Law School. She practiced as a commercial litigator at the New York law firms of Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP and Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP. After determining that office life did not suit her, Jacqueline began teaching Legal Writing and Lawyering Skills at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan and working on her first book in her limited spare time. Finally deciding to embrace her passion and pursue writing full time, Jacqueline returned to school to earn her Masters of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, graduating from the program in 2016.

When not writing, Jacqueline is an avid reader of all things fiction. She loves to exercise, watch movies with her family, listen to music, make lists, and dream about exotic vacations. She lives in Westchester, New York with her husband, four children and two very bossy canines. (Bio courtesy of Jacqueline's website.)

Visit Jacqueline online:

Website * Facebook * Instagram

Synopsis:
A routine immigration case, a shocking legacy. Jessa Gidney’s quest for justice draws her into the heart of an abhorrent conspiracy. As she uncovers her personal ties to a heartbreaking past, her life takes a dramatic turn, in this emotionally riveting novel inspired by true events. 

New York, 2022. Jessa Gidney is trying to have it all–a high-powered legal career, a meaningful marriage, and hopefully, one day, a child. But when her professional ambitions come up short and Jessa finds herself at a turning point, she leans into her family’s history of activism by taking on pro bono work at a nearby ICE detention center. There she meets Isobel Pérez–a young mother fighting to stay with her daughter–but as she gets to know Isobel, an unsettling revelation about Isobel’s health leads Jessa to uncover a horrifying pattern of medical malpractice within the detention facility. One that shockingly has ties to her own family.

Virginia, 1927. Carrie Buck is an ordinary young woman in the center of an extraordinary legal battle at the forefront of the American eugenics conversation. From a poor family, she was only six years old when she first became a ward of the state. Uneducated and without any support, she spends her youth dreaming about a different future–one separate from her exploitative foster family–unknowing of the ripples her small, country life will have on an entire nation.

As Jessa works to assemble a case against the prison and the crimes she believes are being committed there, she discovers the landmark Supreme Court case involving Carrie Buck. Her connection to the case, however, is deeper and much more personal than she ever knew–sending her down new paths that will leave her forever changed and determined to fight for these women, no matter the cost.

Alternating between the past and present, and deftly tackling timely-yet-timeless issues such as reproductive rights, incarceration, and society’s expectations of women and mothers, Counting Backwards is a compelling reminder that progress is rarely a straight line and always hard-won. A moving story of two remarkable women that you’ll remember for years to come. (Courtesy of Jacqueline's website.)

"Friedland gifts readers with richly developed characters in a dual-timeline tale that explores fertility, inequality, and reproductive rights – both past and present with an eye toward the future . . .Counting Backwards is more than a powerful read, ultimately it teaches us ALL how to move forward."

~ Lisa Barr - New York Times bestselling author of The Goddess of Warsaw

"Counting Backwards is a tightly-woven dual-timeline novel that explores the way in which the sins of a family member can reverberate for generations and how society’s mistreatment of women hasn’t changed in decades. Jacqueline Friedland’s ripped-from-the-headlines story is an Erin Brockovich for our times."

~ Jill Santopolo - New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost

"Timely, perceptive, and inspiring, Counting Backwards is truly a book for this moment. Only an absolute pro like Friedland could write a book this smart and this pertinent that still makes readers cry at the end."

~ Lynda Loigman - Author of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

What is a favorite compliment you received on your writing?
People have commented that my writing tends to take complex, nuanced, social justice issues and create these very readable, easily accessible scenarios to examine the topics. This way, people feel like they’re being entertained, but they’re actually learning highly relevant information about history or current events. What could be a better compliment than that? 

If you could tell the debut novelist version of yourself one thing, what would it be?
I think every book feels like a brand-new challenge. In the same way that raising children is equally challenging and equally important whether it’s your first kid or your fourth, each book deserves as much attention and requires as much work as the first. So I’m not sure how much wiser I am now than when I finished my first book. My best advice to my former self would be to just enjoy the ride and know that readers are going to say so many nice things to you, and it makes everything else worth it.

If Counting Backwards was made into a movie, which songs would be on the soundtrack?
I love this question. Top two songs in Counting Backwards: "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base and "America" by Neil Diamond.

What is the last book you read that you would recommend?
I absolutely loved What Happened to the McCrays by Tracey Lange. It’s sad, but so, so good. 

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 

Instead of picking a celebrity, I’m choosing a character from a movie. I would like the narrator to be Cher from Clueless. I love that while she at first comes across as silly or frivolous because she loves makeup and parties, she’s actually very caring and clever, and people just have a tendency to underestimate her. 

If we were to visit you, what are some places you would take us to see?
We would go to the waterfall that’s behind the train station in my town. It’s totally incongruous with the suburban surroundings where we are, and it’s this lovely secret little piece of nature waiting to be discovered. We would also go to Bronx River Books just a couple of minutes walk from that waterfall, so you could see my local indie bookstore and stock up on some new great reads. And then finally, we’d go to Martine’s bakery, across the street, and where we could sit and read our books while enjoying cappuccinos and the most delicious macarons!

Thanks to Jacqueline for chatting with us and to Get Red PR for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway ends March 16th at midnight EST.

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.

Listen to this book on Speechify!