Marjorie Hudson will converse with Susan about Susan’s new novel. Gripping and richly drawn, The Girl from the Red Rose Motel explores the complex bonds between adults and teenagers and the power of the families we both inherit and create. Inspired by the author’s experiences teaching in a South Carolina high school, the novel is also an unflinching, authentic look at the challenges faced by America’s public school teachers and the struggles of thousands of homeless children in motels who live, precariously and almost invisibly, amid the nation’s most affluent communities.