Introducing THE SUN WON'T COME OUT TOMORROW (01/21/25)

It has a cover! And you can preorder it!

It’s been ages since I’ve updated this newsletter, and I hope you’ll forgive me, because I have spent the last many weeks nose to the grind finishing edits on my manuscript so that you can all read The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood, coming from Bold Type Books on January 21, 2025!

And now, I have a fancy cover and description and preorder links to share!

The real history of being an orphan in America is nothing like the myth, and nothing like the American dream. 

The orphan story has been mythologized: Step one: While a child is still too young to form distinct memories of them, their parents die in an untimely fashion. Step two: Orphan acquires caretakers who amplify the world’s cruelty. Step three: Orphan escapes and goes on an adventure, encountering the world’s vast possibilities.  

The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow upends this. Pairing powerful critiques of popular orphan narratives, from Annie to The Boxcar Children to Party of Five,  journalist Kristen Martin explores the real history of orphanhood in the United States, from the 1800s to the present. Martin reveals the mission of religious indoctrination that was at the core of the first orphanages, the orphan trains that took parentless children out West (often without a choice), and the inherent racism and classism that still underlies the United States' approach to child welfare. 

Through a combination of in-depth archival research, memoir (Martin herself lost both her parents when she was quite young), and cultural analysis, The Sun Won't Come out Tomorrow is a compellingly argued, compassionate book that forces us to reconsider autonomy, family, and community. Kristen Martin delivers a searing indictment of America's consistent inability to care for those who need it most.

Preorder today from Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or wherever books are sold, including your local indie bookstore! You can also ask your local library system to stock The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow.

If you know an author, you’ve probably heard the spiel about preorders already, but briefly, preorders matter a lot in the book world because they signal to publishers, bookstores, libraries, etc. that readers are interested in the book before it’s even come out. This helps build buzz, ensures that the book is being stocked in bookstores and libraries, and might even help me write another book one day. I’d hugely appreciate if you’d consider preordering The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow and giving your future self the gift of reading about the real history of child welfare.

More soon on the book and what I’ve been writing and reading in the past few months!