Bestselling author Vanessa Miller is shining the spotlight on an important part of our history. I recently spoke with her about The Filling Station.
Tell me about your latest book.
Sisters Margaret and Evelyn Justice have grown up in the prosperous Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma–also known as Black Wall Street. In Greenwood, the Justice sisters had it all—movie theaters and entertainment venues, beauty shops and clothing stores, high-profile businesses like law offices, medical clinics, and banks. While Evelyn aspires to head off to the East Coast to study fashion design, recent college grad Margaret plans to settle in Greenwood, teaching at the local high school and eventually raising a family.
Then the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre upends everything they know and brings them unspeakable loss. Left with nothing but each other, the sisters flee along what would eventually become iconic Route 66 and stumble upon the Threatt Filling Station, a safe haven and the only place where they can find a shred of hope in oppressive Jim Crow America. At the filling station, they are able to process their pain, fill up their souls, and find strength as they wrestle with a faith in God that has left them feeling abandoned.
But they eventually realize that they can’t hide out at the filling station when Greenwood needs to be rebuilt. The search for their father and their former life may not give them easy answers, but it can propel them—and their community—to a place where their voices are stronger…strong enough to build a future that honors the legacy of those who were lost.
What inspired you to write it?
I love stories about resilient people. When I discovered that the people who lived in Greenwood were able to rebuild their homes and businesses and then were even more successful after the massacre, I knew that this was a story I had to tell. Yes, Black people have experienced hardships in this country, but the beauty in the story is how we continue to rise in the face of adversity. I was drawn to this story because the men and women of Greenwood didn’t give up.
When did you fall in love with the written word?
I was a child, maybe around 8 or 9 when I first put a pencil and notepad in my hand and began to write about whatever was going on in my life at that point. I mostly wrote poems when I was younger. But I knew that I would one day become a writer from a young age.
What’s the best part of being an author?
Seeing the finished product and having an opportunity to talk to the readers of my work. I’m always amazed when they see something I didn’t even see in my books. Nobody but God could have revealed it to them, because I didn’t even see it. Lol.
What’s the hardest part of being an author?
Waiting for the books to release… I know there is reasons why books take about two years (sometime more) to release into the world after the contract has been signed, but I sit on pins and needles waiting to hear what my readers think of my new book. I can’t relax until I read a few reviews.
What books have you read lately and loved?
Rhonda McKnight’s Bitter and Sweet and Angela Jackson Brown’s Untethered.
Who would you cast in a movie to play your main characters?
For Maragret—Anika Noni Rose
For Evelyn—Teyana Taylor
What’s next for you?
Right now I’m getting ready to go on tour for The Filling Station. But I am also writing my next historical. More on that later.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
I would greatly appreciate it if my readers would pick up a copy of The Filling Station during the first week of release. And if they love it, please quickly write a review. Those things are important to the success of a book.
Use the Black Fiction Addiction affiliate link to purchase your copy of The Filling Station.
To learn more about bestselling author Vanessa Miller, visit her website or connect with her on social media.
Website: www.vanessamiller.com
Instagram: author Vanessa Miller
Facebook: Vanessa Miller Pierce