From Variety: Stacey Abrams on Her New Thriller ‘While Justice Sleeps’ and Why She Stopped Using a Pen Name… Support our news coverage by subscribing to our Kindle Nation Daily Digest. Joining is free right now! 

As Stacey Abrams continues to work against voter suppression and voting rights in her home state of Georgia, and while navigating her freshman awards season with her documentary, “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” the trailblazer found time to write a novel.

“While Justice Sleeps” is set to be published by Penguin Random House on May 11 and, in a new interview with Variety, Abrams revealed more details about the thriller that has been several years in the making.

“It is the story of a young lawyer who unexpectedly finds herself to be guardian to Supreme Court Justice, who has fallen into a coma,” Abrams explains. “She has to navigate the high drama challenge and do so with the authority of being a guardian, but with no real power in the midst of the maelstrom that is Washington D.C.”

Seeing Abrams’s name on a book jacket might be new for some readers — but that’s not because the politician is writing her first book. In fact, Abrams is an accomplished author, having written eight novels and two memoirs. However, the new thriller will be published under her own name and not a pseudonym for the first time.

“When I started publishing romance back in 1999 and 2000, I was also publishing articles about the unrelated business income tax exemption, and questions of taxation,” she says, explaining the reason for her pseudonym. “In my mind, it was worth it to keep these identities separate.”

Abrams’s first eight novels (all romances) were under the pen name Selena Montgomery. Her first book, “Rules of Engagement” was published in 2001. Abrams continued to write and release her novels while studying at Yale University. Among the titles published were: “Hidden Sins,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Reckless” and “Deception.”

Read full post on Variety.com