BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
“Iphigenia Murphy,” a novel set in 1990s Forest Park, is a coming-of-age adventure story drawn from observations by the author Sara Hosey, who grew up in Queens during.
The novel, released by Blackstone Publishing earlier this month, focuses on one girl’s journey to find her long-lost mother after fleeing an abusive home environment, according to Hosey. The story is not autobiographical, but rather is inspired by what she observed from other young women struggling in the last decade of the 20th century.
The road to publishing also had its own ups and downs. Her initial publisher, Animal Mineral Press (AMP), ran out of funding, but was able to secure her a position with Blackstone Publishing. Hosey said that before AMP picked her manuscript up, she had shopped it around but found difficulty in finding someone to take it.
She said that authors who want to get published should make sure their manuscripts are in the “best” possible shape before shopping it around and that the route to publishing is circuitous.
Her debut novel is a first attempt at fiction, but is her third book.
Hosey teaches full-time at Nassau Community College as an associate professor of English and women and gender studies.
While she finds it difficult to juggle her obligations at times, she says that as a professor people have access to intellectual communities for discussions and also access to understanding issues younger generations are pressed with.
Her speaking engagement at the college was postponed due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. She also had readings scheduled at local bookstores including Kew & Willow and Astoria Bookshop which have been canceled.
The book is available on Amazon and other book retailers, but Hosey suggested people buy her book from local bookstores to support small businesses.
