INSIDE VOICES

Lo Patrick is a former lawyer and current novelist living in the suburbs of Atlanta. Her debut, The Floating Girls, earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and was a Reader’s Digest Editor’s Pick. It was named by the Georgia Center for the Book, a book all Georgians should read. She is also the author of The Night the River Wept. Her latest novel, Fast Boys and Pretty Girls was published July 8, 2025.

Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Let’s start by having you discuss a pretty girl, your protagonist, Danielle Greer. She is layered: a mother, former model, and emotionally haunted woman. Tell us how her voice found its way to you.

I worked in the modeling industry while in my early twenties. It was a time of profound transition for me; when I took that job I was hoping to leave a lot of my childish antics and indiscretions behind and become what I considered a ‘professional’, which is probably what a lot of my clients were attempting to do with their modeling careers—exactly that, have a career. I am an avid people watcher, in every area of my life, but found the people watching in a Los Angeles modeling agency was not to be topped. The girls (and boys/young men) I met through my job were vulnerable, ambitious, trying to find their voice, their way, something that made sense for them to be chasing, and an identity that matched what everyone was telling them about who they were and who they would become. There was a tremendous amount of confusion and frantic insecurity. I was never able to forget about those girls and their collective upheaval. I tried to imagine the kind of worlds they came from and that was where Dani was born. She is entirely fictional, but I imagine that she—for better or for worse—is not too far a stretch for a lot of young women who are plucked from the familiarity of their small town lives simply for being beautiful, and what that designation—the pretty girl—does to their bigger picture of their life.

Inside Voices (Robert): We’ve covered pretty girls, now let’s chat a little about fast boy, Benji Law. What makes characters like him so captivating, even dangerous?

For whatever reason, a lack of engagement, a scintillating apathy if you will, can sometimes draw people in. Everyone thinks they will uncover the secret truth about this unreachable person who lives their life so on the edge, so detached, so entirely in their own world without any apparent need for anyone else is riveting. I think people like Benji are especially appealing when a person is dealing with their own lack of direction or sense of self. The Benjis of the world gain power from those of us who are searching for meaning or reason in what is otherwise chaos. It seems counter intuitive, but I suppose unlocking the secret door for such an enigmatic charmer like Benji—who is really just a reckless kid without much of a home life or education—seems like striking gold, especially to someone like Danielle who is desperately trying to figure out who she is and where she fits in the world. Benji suddenly seems like the answer. And the most compelling thing about Benji, ultimately, is that he is not as driven or directed as everyone else Danielle is meeting. He’s a teenager, like she was before she met Frank Dabney.

Inside Voices (Jeffrey): The dynamic between Danielle and her mother is challenging one. Share a little about Danielle’s mother and the nature of their relationship.

Danielle’s mother, Deb, has always been a powerful force in her family’s life—the real spitfire of the unit. When Danielle is picked to model, Deb is suddenly out of her element, cast aside for a world that is far more sophisticated and ‘elite’. She holds her own but is thrown off balance by how out of place she is and how superfluous to her daughter’s life she has suddenly become. I think Deb also struggles with the fact that Danielle found so much trouble back at home, in Pressville. She blames Danielle’s choices on living in New York and how that warped her, but it troubles her that the real issues started in their back yard. I also think it speaks to Deb’s intuitiveness that she realizes Danielle’s vulnerability as a result of her struggles in the modeling and fashion worlds are the reason she was so susceptible to someone like Benji. Deb is a fiery person and mother on the surface but is actually a very simple, small town woman trying to make sense of what is happening to her family.

Inside Voices (Robert): The novel moves between 2004 and 2019. How did you approach writing across two timelines? 

I thoroughly enjoy books that move between periods of time, so I am obviously drawn to writing them as well. I love to imagine people at various points on the spectrum of their lives, so to get to write a character from two different perspectives is a real treat for me. Danielle struggles with forward motion in her life, and it was fascinating for me as an author to capture her thwarted internal development and how she was not able to separate herself from her past. I think many, if not most, people who have experienced great shame or trauma, have a very hard time creating a life for themselves that does not revolve around their worst moment(s).

Inside Voices (Jeffrey): What challenges or freedoms did you experience while writing a story rooted in a teenage love that shadows into adulthood?

I think sometimes I was hard on Danielle and had to pull myself back from being too judgmental about her in the narrative. A person only knows what they know—especially at different stages of development. It was difficult to write her without criticism as a grown woman who has seen this kind of thing before. Obviously, the nineteen year old Danielle, did not know what I know as an adult woman. I had to stop myself from being angry with her and allow her to make the mistakes that shaped her life.   

Inside Voices (Robert): Obsession, memory, identity, secrets, and first love all play central roles in this novel. What drew you to these particular emotional landscapes?

I am drawn to coming of age stories generally. I find the evolution of a girl into a woman a timeless, un-exhausted concept that is able to encompass so many other, intricate, nuanced themes that any person can relate to—even if only a little bit. When we are young, our secrets define us. We live by the stories we think are too important, too precious to share. When we get older, I think many of us realize that our experiences are not all that singular and that most people we know have been shaded with the same charcoal. Everyone has a ‘past’, things they regret, wish they hadn’t done, would rather die than admit to. The isolation that develops around shame is all encompassing. It takes a person away from others and alienates them. I find the way that we are able to exclude ourselves because of difficult experiences, instead of using them as a way of connecting, is fascinating. Danielle is yet another young woman who thinks everything she experienced at one point in her life is tainted, unforgivable, insurmountable—a stain. This belief in her own wrongdoing changes her; the regret creates a new Danielle.

Inside Voices (Jeffrey): This novel explores how small-town communities bury secrets. You wrote a piece for Crime Reads: Closeness Breeds Contempt: On Small Town Mysteries. This is a quote: “The minute something really bad happens in a small community, locals start to wonder where the rot came from.”  Why are you drawn to writing about small towns? And why do you think readers love to visit?

Small towns often lack the clutter—aesthetically, socially, culturally…the list goes on and on…of more populated cities and areas. Things are able to SHINE in a small town in both a good and bad way. I think people—myself included—romanticize what it would be like to be so well known, so appreciated, so available when in reality all of that connection just makes a virus spread faster. The good, the bad, and the ugly are quicker to fester. There is a dynamic in a smaller community that allows the interpersonal element to permeate more readily which of course makes for better stories.

Inside Voices (Robert): Did you always know how the story would end, or did that evolve as you wrote it?

My books always evolve as I write. There is a point at which I definitely know what is going to happen and then I can write in that direction, but I do try to allow my characters to tell me what’s going on and what they need in order to resolve the story. I do a ton of editing on the back end of finishing a manuscript; for me that is where the magic happens, because I usually have to wait until about two thirds of the way through to know what exactly I’m writing. 

Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Lo, what is next for you?

I have a book coming out next summer (fingers crossed!) called The Sins of Summer Daughters. I won’t say more as we are still in the editing phase, but…I’m thrilled!