Author Talk: Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away with Reyna Gentin

Join local author Reyna Marder Gentin for the launch of her latest novel, Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away, in conversation with journalist Jessica Rao.

At thirty, protagonist Jessica Harmon's love life is a wreck, her confidence is shot, and she's adrift in New York City, stuck editing other people's novels at a vanity press while too paralyzed to write her own. She blames her failure to launch on the woman who raised her: Cynthia Harmon, a legendary poet and scholar, who dazzles her students and readers alike...but leaves her only child cold.

When Cynthia wins yet another major literary award and asks her daughter to assist her on the book tour, Jessica decides to give their relationship one last chance. When a crisis upends Cynthia's triumphant moment, the power dynamic begins to shift between the two women, and cracks start to show in the story Jessica has always been told - about her mother, her family, and herself.

Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away is a sharp, emotionally layered novel about mothers and daughters, long-held secrets, and understanding where we come from so we can choose who we become.

Copies of the novel will be available for sale by Bronx River Books and signing by the author.

About the presenters

Reyna Marder Gentin grew up on Long Island and attended Yale College and Yale Law School. A former criminal defense attorney, she is the author of two prior legal romances, Unreasonable Doubts and Both Are True, as well as a middle grade novel, My Name Is Layla. Reyna’s personal essays and short stories have been published widely in print and online, and she is currently working on a collection of linked short stories entitled Open Twenty-Four Hours. Reyna lives with her family in Scarsdale, New York.

Jessica Rao is an award-winning journalist and media professional who has held contributor roles at CNBC and Gannett and overseen communications for Fortune 500 companies. In addition to her media career, Jessica is the Vice President of the White Plains Library Foundation Board and she hosts and produces literary events. She is currently working on her debut novel Tuesday Night Special.