Ane Mulligan: In High Cotton

In High Cotton actually began ten years ago. At that time, I wasn’t yet published. One of my critique partners thought maybe if I tried a historical novel, I might get contacted sooner. I have no affinity for prairie novels, but then she suggested the time period of the Great Depression.

That’s more modern history, it resonated with me, so I started writing. I quickly fell in love with the characters and the story. Soon, I sent three chapters to my agent, and while she liked it, she asked if I wanted to write contemporary or historical? At that time, my heart was in contemporary, so I had to set this novel aside.

Fast forward to 2019. I now had four novels in print (traditionally published), two novellas, a cookbook, and two Indie published novels and one novelette. In High Cotton follows my brand: it has an ensemble cast of strong Southern women facing life’s issues together.

I resurrected the story and finished it. I had to change one very important component … the setting. I wanted to place it in Buford, Georgia, but because of a business in that town, most everyone was employed throughout the depression, so it wasn’t the right place. (That story does get told, however. The second book in the Georgia Magnolias series is On Sugar Hill. It will release June 1, 2021.

So, I chose a rural area in the southeast area of Georgia. The Yamacraw Indians called the place “where rivers end,” because the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers converged into one, becoming the Altamaha. There isn’t much around there today and certainly not in 1929. It was the perfect place for my fictional town. The back-cover copy says it well: While the rest of the world has been roaring through the twenties, times are hardscrabble in rural South Georgia.

The era and the setting became antagonists for my heroine, Maggie Parker, along with her late husband’s father. Now I had what I needed and the story flowed. There were still a few times it bounced over the rocks in those rivers instead of flowing, but it always came back together after a brainstorm session with a critique partner.

If a story resonates with your soul, keep it. Even if you have to set it aside for a few years. The right time and place will come around. It did for In High Cotton.

In High Cotton

Southern women may look as delicate as flowers, but there’s iron in their veins.

While the rest of the world has been roaring through the 1920s, times are hardscrabble in rural South Georgia. Widow Maggie Parker is barely surviving while raising her young son alone. Then as banks begin to fail, her father-in-law threatens to take her son and sell off her livelihood—the grocery store her husband left her. Can five Southern women band together, using their wisdom and wiles to stop him and survive the Great Depression?

For the e-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087V636BH  

for the print book: https://amzn.to/2WOLShX or https://shoplpc.com/in-high-cotton/

Target: https://www.target.com/p/in-high-cotton-by-ane-mulligan-paperback/-/A-80663388

To read the first chapter free, go to https://anemulligan.com/georgia-magnolias-series and scroll to the DOWNLOADS

Ane Mulligan has been a voracious reader ever since her mom instilled within her a love of reading at age three, escaping into worlds otherwise unknown. But when Ane saw PETER PAN on stage, she was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. She submerged herself in drama through high school and college. One day, her two loves collided, and a bestselling, award-winning novelist emerged. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and The Write Conversation. 

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