Kayla Rae Whitaker- Returns and Exchanges (Podcast)

Step inside a 1980s Kentucky department store as Kayla Rae Whitaker shares the family secrets and ambition behind her novel Returns & Exchanges.

Book Gang welcomes acclaimed author Kayla Rae Whitaker to discuss her much-anticipated new novel, Returns & Exchanges. Whitaker’s immersive storytelling and meticulous research bring the 1980s era and its consumer culture to vibrant life.

Set in Kentucky during the 1980s, this sweeping family drama follows Fred and Fran, a couple whose rags-to-riches ascent as department store owners brings both fortune and unexpected turmoil. As their business thrives, the family’s personal lives become increasingly complicated in this messy family saga. Through multiple perspectives and intricate subplots, the novel explores themes of identity, desire, mental health, and the complexities of the American dream in this page-turning story.

In this warm and insightful conversation, we discuss:

Inside the Writing Process: It has been nine years since Whitaker’s breathtaking debut, The Animators. We discuss the pressure writers are under to write the next book and why she chose a different timeline for herself. Get insight into Whitaker’s approach to developing memorable characters, managing a sprawling narrative, and the questions she hopes book clubs and readers will debate after finishing Returns & Exchanges.
Recreating 1980s Kentucky: Discover how Kayla Rae Whitaker’s meticulous research brings the sights, sounds, and family dynamics of a 1980s department store empire to life. We discuss how YouTube offered fun, immersive experiences that helped her connect the dots on stocking her store, allowing us to be immersed in the nostalgia of a well-stocked department store.
Ambition, Identity & Queer Desire: Explore how the novel boldly handles themes of ambition, identity, and queer desire, as Whitaker discusses the risks she took to portray a family unraveling under the pressure of success and the true love story at the center of this moving novel. As an English teacher, she brings incredible examples of books she sees in conversation with her novel.

22 Books About Malls and Stores from MomAdvice.com

BONUS WEEKLY BOOK LIST: Books About Malls and Retail Stores

Discover 22 must-read books about malls and stores where retail locations take center stage in their stories. Patrons receive a printable checklist and a bonus spoiler chat with Kayla Rae Whitaker, streaming today.

Returns and Exchanges by Kayla Rae Whitaker

Returns and Exchanges Book Summary

A sweeping novel of one Kentucky family’s rise and fall throughout the 1980s—a tragicomic tour de force about love and marriage, parents and children, and the perils of mixing family with business, from the acclaimed author of The Animators

“This is the novel I’ve been missing: a sprawling, emotional, and true family saga. I fell completely in love with the characters, the story, the setting. All of it. It’s damn near perfect.”—Ayelet Waldman, author of Love & Treasure

It’s December 24, 1979, just before closing at Baker-Taylor’s discount department store, and Fran (née Baker) is surveying her domain. Her husband, Fred, is charming customers in the front of the store, while last-minute shoppers in the toy aisle are fighting over the lone remaining Atari. The older Taylor kids are on register, while the younger ones’ chaos is contained to the stockroom. All is right in the world as the new decade approaches.

With four healthy children and financial stability their own parents could have only dreamed of, Fred and Fran are the picture of the American Dream—rags to riches—with a successful chain of family-owned stores built on years of hard work and long hours. Underneath the surface, however, the business is changing at a breakneck pace, and each member of the family is struggling to keep up.

Money is transforming Fred, and the extremes he will go to in order to fit in with the slicked-back high society crowd of Lexington, Kentucky, are embarrassing, if not downright dangerous. Josiah, the oldest son, wants nothing to do with the family business; Sam is seeing things that might not really be there; and Benny and Birdie are growing up with a fraction of the parenting that their older brothers had. Meanwhile, Fran, her family’s stable core, is falling for Wendy, a cashier at Baker-Taylor’s, risking everything along the way. While trying to maintain the facade of a perfect success story, Fred and Fran learn that in matters of love and money, once it’s gone, it’s gone—no returns, no exchanges.

Meet Kayla Whitaker

Kayla Rae Whitaker’s work has been published in The Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, Electric Literature, and others. Her first novel, The Animators, was named a best book of 2017 by Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Kirkus, and BookPage. Her second novel, Returns and Exchanges, published by Random House, is on store shelves now. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and New York University. She writes and teaches in Queens, New York.

Unpacking Returns & Exchanges with Kayla Rae Whitaker

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Kayla Rae Whitaker- Returns and Exchanges (Podcast)

Returns and Exchanges Book Summary

Meet Kayla Whitaker

Unpacking Returns & Exchanges with Kayla Rae Whitaker

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