Family learns hiding dark secrets from a small town is the hardest trick of all

KIRKWOOD, MO – Seasoned author and journalist Anne Shaw Heinrich inspires another powerful portrayal of small town life and the veil of indifference we so capably possess.

Violet is Blue (Speaking Volumes, June 17, 2025) follows a young troubled girl who befriends a poverty-stricken boy and finds companionship in their unorthodox beliefs and lifestyle.

Set in the same world as her acclaimed debut, God Bless the Child, and written in multiple perspectives, Violet is Blue is a wholly standalone novel that subverts the beliefs of the idyllic small town as Violet and Jules’s families hide their secrets from the prying ears of the people around them.

A seasoned writer with over 35 years of experience as a journalist, columnist, and nonprofit communications professional, Anne Shaw Heinrich continues to bring her wealth of expertise to this compelling narrative. Drawing on experiences living as a child and an adult in Midwestern small towns, Anne confronts the darker side of small town life, exposing the pitfalls of living on the fringes of society but painfully close to privilege. She has masterfully created an unjust world that is all too recognizable even today.

About the book: Violet Sellers is blue, and for good reason. When she makes a new friend in school, Jules Marks, who lives on the “other side of the tracks” with his five little sisters, she is introduced to a dark world of self-abuse. As Violet learns about Jules and his shifty mother, Lee, she retreats further into her shell. Her parents, Gloria and Skip, are horrified and do their best to find out what happened to their adolescent daughter while bending over backward to keep the whole town from knowing their business. Jules has an aunt and uncle who know his desperate story, and they finally get a chance to free him and his sisters out of a loveless world of poverty.