RASCOE: So I know a major aspect of this book is unwed mothers and how pregnant girls are often shipped off to these homes where they were treated so callously. I remember there being this turbulence between the two of them, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was, and it just really made me think of what life was like for women in those situations. My mother told me that she didn't know my grandmother was her mother until she was in the third grade. She had her out of wedlock, and there was a lot of shame. She had gotten pregnant with my mother at 14 and had her at 15. JOHNSON: 'The House Of Eve' was inspired by thoughts of my grandmother. What made you want to set this novel in the 1950s?

RASCOE: You know, I read in an interview where you said you've kind of been bit by the historical fiction bug. during that time, it really transports her and changes her life in ways that she had not expected. with secrets, and diving into a world that she did not know existed, which is the Black elite of Washington, D.C. She comes from a loving home, but she comes to D.C.

Ruby is 15, and when I started working on the novel, the thing that I knew about her was that she was beautiful, that she had a body that was shaped like a Coca-Cola bottle, and that her mother did not want her. JOHNSON: I think they have similarities as well. They have different backgrounds and interests, but I feel like they have some similarities, too. RASCOE: Tell us more about Ruby and Eleanor, whose lives eventually intersect. It's such a pleasure and an honor to be here. SADEQA JOHNSON: Thank you so much for having me. Sadeqa Johnson is the author of 'The House Of Eve.' She joins us now. They both fall in love with men who society says should be off limits to them. That's the backdrop for the new novel 'The House Of Eve.' It follows the lives of two young Black women, teenager Ruby trying to escape poverty in Philadelphia, and Eleanor, a student at Howard University trying to figure out how to fit in with the elites of Washington, D.C. The stolen glances, the butterflies in the stomach, the drama - but mix in the racism and misogyny of the 1950s, and that cute puppy love could easily become corrosive and dangerous.

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson