What We Set In Motion

Set in the turbulent, colorful 1970’s, What We Set in Motion finds the daughter of a prominent old South Carolina Lowcountry family fleeing to New York’s Greenwich Village in pursuit of a dance career.  Cut off by her disapproving father and abandoned by her would-be fiancé, Nadine Carter Barnwell must strive on her own to beat the harrowing odds. Penniless and surrounded by the temptation of dubious money-making schemes and the bitter disappointment of seeing a friend fall prey to them, Nadine battles fiercely for her place in the ultra-competitive world of dance -- only to reluctantly step away to please a man. It takes the loving, mystical intervention of her beloved aunt back in South Carolina and an unexpected letter from a young girl to set Nadine’s chaotic life firmly on the path to fulfilment and the startling realization that every encounter and each choice is a milestone in the quest to forge her own destiny.

Stephanie Austin Edwards is a writing teacher, novelist and author consultant.  Following a twenty-two-year career in New York City working on Broadway, in film and on television she returned to her roots in the South Carolina Lowcountry. What We Set in Motion, her debut novel, won the Best Submission Award at the Atlanta Writer’s Club Conference in 2013.