This Is How It Begins: A Novel

(Paperback)

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According to a first-of-its-kind study from Michigan State University that ranks nations by empathy, the United States falls at No. 7, behind countries ranging from United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia and Korea. The studys authors also previously found that American college students are 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (500,000+ members, and 1.2 million Facebook followers), more than 200 bills were introduced nationally in 2016 by Christians seeking to protect their religious freedom, which the ACLU characterizes as discriminating against gay people; the ACLU anticipates even more in 2017

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the first seven days after the 2016 presidential election alone, 701 hateful incidents of harassment were reported across the country, 80 of them directed at LGBTQ individuals, 51 against religious minorities.

In the wake of Hillary Clintons defeatdespite winning the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and collecting more than 61.3 million votestens of millions of American progressives are disheartened; this book offers hope to that population.

Reviews

Winner, Bronze Medal, Independent Publisher Book Awards
Winner, Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
May Sarton Womens Book Award Finalist
Foreword Review Indies Book of the Year Award Finalist

. . . Dempseys fine first novel [is] notable for the evenhanded way it addresses hot-button issues. The result is a timely and memorable story.
Booklist

Dempseys fine debut, set in 2009, explores how hate, fear, and intolerance cast a lifelong shadow. Current events have only made this gripping story more relevant.
Library Journal

This Is How It Beginsby Joan Dempsey is a thought-provoking and timely novel that connects the horrors of our political past to the current cultural climate, giving new relevance to the . . . adage, Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
The Advocate

A gripping and sensitive portrait of ordinary people wrestling with ideological passions.
Kirkus

. . . the book maintains the readers curiosity and makes for a fast-paced, entertaining read . . . its substantive themes parallel many of the issues Americans are debating today.
Portland Press Herald Maine Sunday Telegram

This Is How It Beginsis award-winning Maine author Joan Dempseys timely, suspenseful and powerful exploration of the very real conflict between religious freedom and civil rights. Dempsey is clearly a talented writer, unafraid to thoughtfully address controversial issues like sexual orientation and intolerance . . . a provocative hit.
Kennebec Journal

This Is How It Begins. . . is nothing if not timely. It is also an enticing read, well written and researched and with mindfully drawn characters.
Maine Women Magazine

What is perhaps most stunning about Dempseys novel is her ability to empathetically show two diametrically opposed sides . . . [this] book feels prescient in our current political climate . . .
The Denver Voice

With themes pulled straight from contemporary headlines, Dempsey approaches the fundamental yet often discordant topics of free speech, religious freedom and human rights, and she manages to build a narrative in which all sides are given personable, realistic and sympathetic characterizations.
Summit Daily

A remarkable novel full of characters on every side of the cultural divide, all imbued with genuine humanity . . . a riveting, essential story for our time.
Matthew Goodman, New York Timesbest-selling author of The City Game

Joan Dempseys spellbinding novel illuminates how the tides of history repeat themselves . . . Reading this moving adventure compels us to bear witness to the past and present and think about our own complacency to everyday discrimination in our midst.
Dr. Eva Fogelman, Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust

Dempsey brings her characters to life with equal parts empathy and tough-mindedness . . . A riveting story of the clash between LGBT and fundamentalist Christian cultures, and the way its violence reawakens historical trauma, this striking debut is essential reading for our times.
Judith Frank, Lambda Literary Award Finalist for All I Love and Know

Into these tumultuous and politically polarized times comes a beautifully wrought novel that plumbs the roots of bigotry, hatred and intolerance. This Is How It Beginsmakes it clear that we have been down this road before and we ignore the lessons of history at our own peril. A riveting, immensely satisfying read.
Bill Lundgren, co-author ofBecoming (Other)wise

Joan Dempseys debut novel is a compelling story that seems to rise out of the rancor of current national headlinesabout hate, bigotry, and intolerance. The story has deep roots in the darkness of the horrific persecution and betrayal of Jews during World War II. Twin story linesthen and nowilluminate how close we yet remain to the hellish cauldron that fear enflames.
Frank O. Smith, authorof Dream Singer,a Bellwether Prize finalist

Author Bio

One of 5 more writers over 50 to watch. Poets & Writers Magazine Winner of the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, Joan Dempsey is the author of the novel, This Is How It Begins, which won the bronze Independent Publisher Book Award for literary fiction and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award, and Sarton Women's Book Award. This Is How It Beginswas also selected by the American Library Association for the 2018 Over the Rainbow List of Literature Titles. Among other awards and accolades, Joan has received a significant research grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, a full scholarship to the Key West Literary Seminars and Workshops, a Maine Literary Award, and a residency at the Jentel Artists Residency Program. She holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her writing has been published in The Adirondack Review, Alligator Juniper, Obsidian: Literature of the African Diaspora,andPlenitude Magazine, and aired on National Public Radio. She lives in Maine with her partner and their family of animals. Learn more at joandempsey.com.