Author Caitlin Hicks on The Sunbury Press Books Show!

The coming of age of Annie Shea is documented in two novels by Caitlin Hicks. Set in 1963 California, "A Theory of Expanded Love" finds a young Annie, desperate for attention in a family of 13 kids, a military father and a strong Catholic faith. With the passing of Pope John XXIII, a family friend stands to be the first American to be his successor. Annie seizes the moment to create a web of lies, but then discovers a family's hidden secret, which they will keep at all costs.

Annie's life takes a turn in "Kennedy Girl." Now seventeen, Annie stands to further break the mores of her family, through her crush with a black fellow student, Lucas Jones and her volunteering for the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. The world comes crashing down for both Annie and Lucas with Kennedy's assassination--later joined by Annie's brother, the three head for the Canadian border, where the latter's own secrets are uncovered, and Annie must sort out a changing world and what it all means for her.

An author and actress, Caitlin Hicks drew on her own upbringing for Annie and the cast of characters in these two works. First released in 2015, "A Theory..." won awards from the likes of Forward Indies and iTunes for Best New Fiction. Her writing has appeared in newspapers such as the Vancouver Sun, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Milwaukee Journal Sentiel, plus Atlantic Canada's International literary journal, The Fiddlehead. She lives in British Columbia.