YAPC would like to welcome Anna Scanlon to the blog today. She is here to interview with us and to share some info about a couple of her books: Unravelled and Children of the Most High. If these look like something you would enjoy reading, please go pick up a copy or two!
Content Warnings: Due to strong disturbing content, these books are recommended for 16+.
YAPC: Try to describe your books in one sentence.
Anna: Children of the Most High: A story of a girl wrestling between her faith and her heart.
Unravelled: A novel which discusses life during and immediately after the Holocaust and all of the challenges survivors faced.
YAPC: If you wouldn’t be a writer, what you would be?
Anna: This is a tough one, but I think an actor or something like that. I am also a PhD student, so I am already kind of two in one!
YAPC: When did you begin writing?
Anna: As a child. I filled up tons of spiral notebooks with stories and “diaries” about my life. They weren’t very interesting, but I thought they were going to be published some day. I had an aspiration of being the youngest person to ever publish a book. That didn’t happen!
YAPC: Do you read reviews written about your book?
Anna: Yes, and it can be really encouraging or discouraging. Sometimes people make silly comments, but for the most part it has been a positive experience.
YAPC: What is it you love most about writing? What’s the hardest part of writing for you?
Anna: I really love telling a character’s story. Sometimes it just feels like they are whispering to you, as weird as that sounds, and I just want to get it out. The hardest part, I’d say, is disciplining yourself to write even when you don’t feel like it. But the only way to actually finish a book is to do that.
YAPC: Did you do any research before start or during of the writing of the books?
Anna: A TON for both of them. Unravelled was a bit easier for me since I research the Holocaust as my job. However, Children required a ton of research as well. It is frustrating because I am writing about a particular Amish sect and some people who are only familiar with other sects think I didn’t do my research. I think that can be the issue with Amish fiction—that people really put them on a pedestal.
YAPC: Your favorite books and author?
Anna: Any book that takes my breath away. My favorites are Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Annexed.
YAPC: How important do you find the communication between you and your readers? Do you reply to their messages or read their reviews?
Anna: I think it is very important as ultimately I am writing for them. I do take their opinions into account when writing sequels and do read their reviews. I am also available for questions. At this point in my career, I am not all that bogged down with stuff from readers, so I am happy to speak to people whenever they would like.
YAPC: Morning person or night owl?
Anna: NIGHT OWL! Even as a kid, I stayed up really late watching QVC in my bedroom (no idea why!). Now, I just stay up late for no reason and sleep late during the day. Because of the way my job is, I can do that.
YAPC: How many more books can we expect in this series?
Anna: Children of the Most High will have one more book.
I am also releasing another novel, The Remnants, which will likely be part of a trilogy.
Unravelled Description:
“No one heard us. They decided not to, to turn their heads away.
It was too much to bear. Too much to know. Too hard to swallow.
But now that the world knows, now that the world has heard, it all seems so simple, so easy to defray.
I screamed and no one heard.
Next time, will you be listening?”
Aliz and her twin sister, Hajna, are enjoying their playful, carefree and comfortable life with their parents in Szeged, Hungary just before the Nazis invade. Seemingly overnight, their lives change drastically as they are transported to the ghetto on the outskirts of the city and then to Auschwitz to be used in Mengele’s deadly experiments. After several months of brutal torture, Aliz is liberated to find that she is the only survivor in her family. At not even 11 years old, Aliz must make the journey to San Francisco alone, an entire world away from everything she’s known, in order to live with her only known relatives whom she has never met– a depressed aunt and teenage cousin who is more than ready to escape her mother’s melancholy. Told through the eyes of both Aliz and her cousin Isabelle, Unravelled tells a story of survival, hope, family and the lives war and genocide haunt long after liberation.
Praise for Unravelled:
“Beautifully written and haunting story about the Holocaust and its aftermath.”
“I devoured this book within 24 hours, it was so moving and engrossing.”
Children of the Most High Description:
Sixteen-year-old Rebecca Graber has lived in the safety of her close-knit conservative Amish community her entire life. She has been dating Zeke Stolzfus, the Bishop’s son, since her first singing and anticipates the day when the two will marry. Rebecca’s life changes overnight when Zeke, the boy she loves and trusts, forcibly takes her virginity. Taught to “turn the other cheek” like Jesus would have done, Rebecca’s religion requires her to forgive Zeke and put the rape in the past. Family relationships and community ties are put to the test in the wake of Rebecca’s trauma. Feeling abandoned by her religion’s minimization of the assault, she embarks on a journey where she discovers the answers in the most unlikely of places. This powerful novel examines what forgiveness truly means.
Buy Unrave1led:
Amazon * Paperback
Buy Children of the Most High:
Amazon * Paperback
Praise for Unraveled:
“This is an eye opening story from an unexpected point of view.”
“Unforgettable, powerful read!”
About the Author: Anna Scanlon was born in Athens, Georgia and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She 
currently resides in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom (she has previously lived in New York City, Budapest, Grenoble and Amsterdam). She holds an MA in History from the University of Amsterdam and is pursuing a PhD in History from the University of Leicester. She lectures and teaches on the Holocaust and art and consults with schools and theater companies who are working on Holocaust related material. She has been writing since she was a little girl, keeping diaries whilst pretending she was Laura Ingalls Wilder and writing historical fiction novels about WWII and the Oregon Trail (obviously based on the video game series!). In the third grade, she wrote an “adaptation” of her favorite film “My Girl” for her class.
Connect with Anna:
Blog * Twitter * YouTube * Facebook
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