Two debut novelists discuss how they create characters that draw us in despite a distinct lack of “likability.”  The Caretakers by Michener MFA Amanda Bestor-Siegel follows a deeply complicated group of women in Paris as an American au pair working for one of the families is blamed for the sudden death of a child. Meanwhile, Caroline Frost’s Shadows of Pecan Hollow—a Washington Post recommended read—tells of a young woman abducted by low-level criminal Manny and conned into being his partner in a string of stick-ups. Two decades later, the life she’s built is threatened when Manny shows back up at her door.

Moderator: Julia Jones, Texas Highways magazine associate editor

Amanda Bestor-Siegal, Caroline Frost, The Caretakers, Shadows of Pecan Hollow