Kristine F. Anderson
Kristine F. Anderson has a Ph.D. in Communicative Arts from Georgia State University. She has a background in education and journalism. Her breakout novel Crooked Truth won the Ferrol Sams Fiction Award. She was nominated for the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award in the debut novel category, and Crooked Truth was nominated for the Willie Morris 2021 Southern Fiction Award. The manuscript for Outside the Lines received the Honorable Mention Award in the 2024 William Faulkner Literary Competition. Visit www.kristinefanderson.com to learn more.
When Lucas Webster returns to South Georgia in early May of 1961, he hears two words —“he gone” — that change his life. He learns that CJ Jackson, the childhood friend who once saved him from drowning, has disappeared somewhere in Alabama. CJ, one of the country's first African-American Baseball All-Stars, is scouting for more minority players in the Deep South. And his family asks Lucas, a white journalist, to find him before a splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan does.
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Praise for Outside the Lines
“A powerful story of friendship, loyalty, and the choices that define us when doing what is right may cost everything.”
— Robert Gwaltney, critically acclaimed author of Sing Down the Moon
“A deeply personal exploration of the Civil Rights Movement, told with courage, empathy, and compassion — a timely reminder that some struggles are not yet behind us.”
— Ann Hite, award-winning author of I Am a Georgia Girl: The Life of Lucille Selig Frank, 1888–1957
“With a deft hand, Kristine Anderson reminds us of the curious power of well-written historical fiction. We know what will happen in the Civil Rights era: legislation will pass, barriers will fall, and the nation will take a few lurching steps toward justice. But we don't know what will happen to the characters in Anderson's newest tale—and neither do they. Her characters remind us that history is not a separate entity or some outside force. History is created, moment by moment, by people who find themselves in the crucible of events. A heartfelt and well-spun tale of courage, friendship and redemption set in the segregated South of the early 1960s, Outside the Lines is historical fiction that holds a mirror up to both the past and to ourselves.”
— Christopher Swann, author of Shadow of the Lions
“A compelling novel about friendship, conscience, and the difficult choices we make when remaining on the sidelines is no longer possible.”
— Raymond L. Atkins, author of They All Rest in the Boneyard Now and Set List