Laura McBride is the author of We Are Called to Rise, a tale of dissimilar lives intertwined. With one narrator being an eight-year-old Albanian boy dealing with his sudden involvement in the foster care system, and another being a middle-aged CASA volunteer who helps him along the way, it's an inspiring story that reminds us that no matter how cruel life can be in a given moment, it is ultimately beautiful to live, and live fully.
This is Laura's debut novel, which was a #1 Indie Next pick and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writer's choice in the United States, and both a Simon Mayo BBCRadio2 Book Club selection and a Waterstones Book Club pick in the UK. Laura appreciates the beautiful and explosive possibilities of her hometown: a community in which the conventional and social boundaries are unusually fluid.
Laura McBride teaches composition and literature at the College of Southern Nevada. She once thought of herself as an adventurer, having traveled far from home on little more than a whim and a grin, but now laughs at the conventional trappings of her ordinary suburban life. She’s been married for 25 years to an ex-pat she met in Paris, and has two lovely children.
"Laura McBride is an incredible author, guest, and speaker. This visit has been excellent, and as one person wrote on our exit surveys last night "She is awesome!" Another wrote - "Best book yet"(which for 13 years is saying something...)."
-- Leslie DeLooze, Community Services Librarian, Richmond Memorial Library
"I want you to know how outstanding the evening and the morning presentations were. Laura is exceptional at relating to faculty and students and in motivating them to write and to succeed. ... We had packed audiences for both events, and Laura had rave reviews. In fact, out of the hundreds of students, there was not one negative comment. Many faculty members said she is the best author we have had on campus. And I do want you to know what a compliment that is because we have had many well-known authors. I can confidently say that Laura would excel speaking at any college or university. Thank you again for your help and your support of Laura."
-- Cindy Baw, Tarrant County College - Living Literature coordinator
"Another person stopped me in the Library again today to tell me how much she enjoyed your book and your visit; and we just got a $100 donation the other day from an individual who had the same thing to say in her nice accompanying note. I just want to add another thank you from me to the chorus. All of us on the Richardson Reads One Book committee are thrilled with the success of your visit to Richardson and still feel very intelligent to have had the wisdom to select your book."
McBride's pitch-perfect narrative of two broken young veterans, an imploding marriage and the heartbreak of a young immigrant boy unfolds quietly, with a plainspoken realism that beckons readers along from page one.
-- Karen Ann Cullotta, BookPage
McBride has written an urgent morality tale for our times in the form of this poignant and gripping debut.
