Our latest Five by Five continues the The Women of Paradise County Series with “Violet is Blue,” (June 2025, Speaking Volumes) by Anne Shaw Heinrich.
Small town life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be for the women of Paradise County. Heinrich, shares how the small town can make a huge impact in her dark yet hopeful companion to her first book, which dives into the world of “have” and “have-nots” where Violet befriends Jules, a boy from the other side of town and learns about the indignities and injustices given to the less fortunate side of the tracks.
In this interview, Anne explores how the new book continues the story of “God Bless the Child” and talks about the relationship between Violet and Jules. We learn some of the lessons shared through the book and get a few details on the next title in the series.
How does this expand on “God Bless the Child?”
My second novel, “Violet is Blue,” unfolds in the same town as “God Bless the Child,” the first novel in The Women of Paradise County Series. Poulson is a fictional midwestern small town where everyone knows your business and you have an assigned seat. A few of the characters from the first novel are also featured in the second book, namely the Rev. James Pullman. He has messes from his younger, less reverent days, in need of tending. His younger cousin, Violet Sellers and her newfound friend, Jules Marks, know all about his deeds. As the truth unravels, there are tremendous changes in store for them both, as well as the whole new cast of characters who called Poulson their home.
What is the relationship between Violet and Jules?
Classmates Violet and Jules have little in common. Violet has never done without, and Jules lives with his five little sisters in Shakey’s Half, a dusty cluster of shacks on the outskirts of town. It’s a place most people in Poulson try not to think about too much. Vi and Jules have more history than they realize, but as their unlikely friendship grows, they discover a shared penchant for harming themselves. Violet one-ups tough Jules with a sinister tattoo designed to protect her from her cousin, James Pullman. Jules takes one look and knows the artist. What he does next leads to an unraveling that changes the lives of everyone within their sphere.
How does the fact they’re from different sides of town influence their relationship?
In the beginning, their differences are stark. Violet is protected by her privilege. She wants for nothing. Jules wants for everything and then some. Both want to be seen, comforted and safe. Their trust grows and they come to need one another in ways neither of them imagine. As their friendship deepens, what divides them is still there, but not as noticeable or powerful as what connects them.
What are some of the lessons shared through the story?
“Violet is Blue” delves deeply into what happens when people living together in small spaces must reckon with how they are different, yet connected, whether they like it or not. Some have everything. Some have nothing. But most live in that space between everything and nothing. The story also allows readers to explore the capricious nature of circumstance, a universal desire to be loved and protected, and the lasting impacts of action and inaction. The characters in the book are forced to reckon with their own notions of generosity and grace. What motivates us to give, and where does that fine line between enough and too much land? How closely do our wants dance next to our needs?
Will there be more stories that continue this?
Yes. There is one more novel in The Women of Paradise County Series, “House of Teeth.” I’m knee-deep in the writing of it and really enjoying the process of “putting a bow” on the story arch. There is some unfinished business for nearly all of the characters in the series that must be tended to in a way that will satisfy readers, but also lean into the reality that we face, even outside the fictional world: the decisions we make or let others make for us, have lasting consequences that are difficult to quantify, but nonetheless powerful.
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