| Out of the Easy | |
| Author: | Ruta Sepetys |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Historical fiction |
| Publisher: | Philomel Books |
| Release Date: | 2013 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 346 |
| Isbn: | 039925692X |
Out of the Easy is a 2013 novel by Ruta Sepetys. It is her second published novel[1] and was listed as a 2014 Best Children's Book of the Year from the Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education.[2]
It features Josie Moraine, a young woman in the 1950s French Quarter of New Orleans who struggles to escape her family and become the author of her own destiny. The novel became a New York Times bestseller and was listed as an Editor's Choice in the New York Times on February 15, 2013.[3]
Sepetys has said that Out of the Easy was born from her discovery of the biography The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld and her interest in post-war America, which, contrary to her expectations, was full of "suffering and secrets."[4] She also attributes her interest in New Orleans to a gift of vintage opera glasses with an engraved name, enabling her to find out who the original owner was.[5] As with all her books, Sepetys undertook several research trips, which led her to discover news articles about "tourists who met an untimely end"; she later worked this into the novel.[6]