Fiction With a Mission: Exposing the Hidden Crisis in Women's Prisons with Author Amanda DuBois

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Amanda DuBois, author of the book Unshackled. In addition to writing the Camille Delaney series, Amanda is the founder and busy managing partner of DuBois Levias Law Group, a woman-owned boutique family law firm on Lake Union in Seattle, where she  maintains an active family law practice. Over the past thirty years, she’s represented thousands of individuals – both in divorces and medical malpractice cases. She’s also provided pro bono legal representation for parents who served time in prison and has become very familiar with the issues they face. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she was a high-risk labor and delivery nurse at University of Washington Medical Center.

 

Having a background in both medicine and the law has given her unique insight into the inequities of both systems. That perspective drove her to create the Camille Delaney mystery series. Camille’s adventures weave questions about justice into a fast-paced reading experience with the twists and turns one would expect from a good thriller. Her purpose in writing the series is to raise awareness of injustice and create an opportunity for readers to reflect on how our system could work better for those most marginalized.

 

When she’s not lawyering or writing, she’s usually working on the same social justice issues that she’s sending Camille out to explore. In 2015, she founded Civil Survival Project, an organization that teaches advocacy skills to formerly incarcerated individuals. Civil Survival also provides civil legal aid to individuals struggling with the consequences of incarceration and helping them with reentry. In addition to the Civil Survival Project, she is heavily involved in the community. Plus she has created a newsletter called The Ripple Haven. If you’d like to follow the stories of some amazing women, please subscribe here, https://www.amandadubois.com/blog/announcing-ripple-haven.

 

In my book review, I stated Unshackled is the third in the Camille Delaney Mystery series - and it was so good! You know how I love great characters, and Unshackled is full of them. Camille is an ER nurse turned lawyer, who is exposed to the oxycontin crisis and women in prison when she volunteers at the local prison. What she finds is appalling at best.

 

Abused, traumatized, and addicted women are put into prison and given no help. There is no therapy. No addiction resources. And no help keeping their families together. In fact, Camille soon learns that many women in prison are forced to give up their parental rights. When the mothers make it out of jail, they have no access to their children, which often leads them straight back to addiction. And the kids? Without understanding why their mom's 'abandoned' them, they are likely on their way to a prison sentence as well.

 

Camille meets Charli and agrees to take on her case. But it isn't as simple as getting her child back. Instead, she runs into drug dealers, drug kingpins, drug addicts, and a system that is against everything she wants to accomplish. This story will have you gripping your seat and praying for the right outcome! It's a must read.

 

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Join the Novels N Latte Book Club community to discuss this and other books with like-minded readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576519880426290

 

You can follow Author Amanda DuBois

Website: https://amandadubois.com/

FB: @amanda.dubois.author

X: @AmandaDuBoisCS

Linked In: @Amanda DuBois

IG: @amandadubois206

 

Purchase Unshackled on Amazon:

Paperback: https://amzn.to/44dy3Lk

Ebook: https://amzn.to/3FOKy85       

 

BONUS: Her publisher has created a 20% discount code for Unshackled. It can be used on the INDIEPUBS.com website using the code: UNSHACKLED20

 

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

 

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors

 

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