Congrats Kerri
on the recent release of
Tell Me One Thing!
Tell Me One Thing by Kerri Schlottman
Coming of Age Fiction, 217 pages
Published January 31, 2023 by Regal House Publishing
An atmospheric debut novel that spans place and time, Kerri Schlottman’s Tell Me One Thing examines power, privilege, and the sacrifices one is willing to make to succeed. Against the backdrop of a rural Pennsylvania trailer park, and the complicated world of Manhattan during the AIDS epidemic, it delves into New York City’s free-for-all grittiness while exposing a neglected slice of the struggling rust belt, traversing decades from the 1980s up to present day.
Outside a Pennsylvania motel, nine-year-old Lulu smokes a cigarette while sitting on the lap of a trucker. Recent art grad Quinn is passing through town and captures it. The photograph, later titled “Lulu & the Trucker,” launches Quinn’s career, escalating her from a starving artist to a renowned photographer. In a parallel life, Lulu struggles to survive a volatile home, growing up too quickly in an environment wrought with drug abuse and her mother’s prostitution.
Decades later, when Quinn has a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art and “Lulu & the Trucker” has sold at auction for a record-breaking amount, Lulu is surprised to find the troubling image of her young self in the newspaper. She attends an artist talk for the exhibition with one question in mind for Quinn: Why didn’t you help me all those years ago?
While writing, Kerri Schlottman—who has a background in art and writes from a place of authenticity —was inspired by Mary Ellen Mark’s famous 1990 photograph, “Amanda and Her Cousin Amy,” which depicts nine-year-old Amanda smoking a cigarette in a kiddie pool in rural North Carolina.
Upon Mark's death in 2015, NPR interviewed Amanda and asked her why she allowed herself to be photographed. Her reply was: “I thought, ‘Hey, people will see me, I'll get attention, it will perhaps change things for me.’ I thought it might be a way to get out, but that was not the case.”
Weaving back and forth between Lulu’s and Quinn’s perspectives, Tell Me One Thing explores life-shaping moments in each of their stories—doubt, love, pain, and ambition—and unknowingly links one to another through a fierce determination to better their circumstances.
Brimming with characters that won’t soon leave you, Tell Me One Thing captures a portrait of two Americas by an exciting up-and-coming writer to watch.
My thoughts about Tell Me One Thing ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"Quinn looks around at the installation, pleased with the result of weeks of work and over a year of preparation."
Two people, two tough living situations, and the one thing that bonds the two of them together. Tell Me One Thing explores the lives of struggling artist Quinn and nine year old Lulu, who connected one afternoon when Quinn asked to take Lulu's picture. As the story progresses, we witness the hard lives they both endured. Told in alternating voices, we are privy to the downhill spirals they both seem to be on.
Tell Me One Thing drew me into the worlds of these two people and captivated me as I witnessed their struggles and their growth. This is a beautifully written story that will stick with me for a long time. This is Kerri Schlottman's debut novel and I'm excited to see what she writes next.
I received a ARC of Tell Me One Thing and this is my honest opinion.
About the author
Kerri Schlottman is a Detroiter turned New Yorker who works to support artists, performers, and writers in creating new projects. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Dillydoun Review, Belle Ombre, Women Writers Women’s Books, Muse Apprentice Guild, and The Furnace. She placed second in the Dillydoun International Fiction Prize, has been longlisted for the Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction, and was a 2021 University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize semifinalist.
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