[(Byline)] [By (author) Michaele Benedict] published on

by Michaele Benedict

The newspaper business is booming in 1955 America. Alithia Paras is a University of Tennessee journalism scholar who talks her way into an internship at the "Knoxville Times" with high hopes of breaking huge stories. She wants to carve out an identity in the business as a real-life Brenda Starr, so the assignments covering weddings and club meetings aren't exactly what she had in mind. But if there's one trait she's inherited from her Greek ancestors, it's persistence.What she doesn't realize is that landing better stories to cover for the newspaper is about to be the least of her problems. A silent but dangerous evil is lurking in Knoxville's dark corners and alleyways, and Alithia walks right into its path. When faced with an insane individual who believes eternal life is achievable through a uniquely terrifying manner-will her perseverance be enough to save her?Find out in this thrilling and suspenseful mystery about misfits, Greek-Americans, the South, and thriving metropolitan newspapers. It's a fast-paced and dangerous world for Alithia, in which her editor wants to change her byline to something less ethnic, and a deranged madman wants to make her immortal.

Paperback

First published August 26, 2014

Reviews

[Susan Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michaele Benedict's BYLINE is a great read. Allie Paras is a college student, newly hired by the fictional Knoxville Times as a copy "boy" who aspires to be a reporter. Benedict is a skillful writer who draws the reader into a time, the mid 1950s, when the primary source of information in this country was through the newspaper industry, and her description of a small city newspaper and the interesting characters who gather and write and print the news is so vivid these characters come to life on the page. Her description of the effort that goes into producing a daily paper is so well done you can smell the printer's ink. Allie is struggling to discover exactly who she is in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. While her heritage is Greek, she's at a loss to understand exactly what that means to her. Meeting some delightful Greek students provides her with an opportunity to understand that heritage better. Allie is caught up in a mystery, and finding the solution also gives her a better understanding of who she is and helps her step into adulthood. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the book. I highly recommend this book!

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knoxville, 1955, is about as far from my experience as the moon. I enjoyed this peek into many worlds I will never personally live-- the workings of a metro newspaper before computers, Southern college life, Knoxville's Little Greece, to name a few. The characters sparkle with life and Allie is adorable, I would love to sit down with her and enjoy a cup of coffee. My only complaint is that I wish there was more descriptions, more food, more details. Will there be a sequel, please?

[Deborah Hagler Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story, set in 1955, concerns a 20-yr-old woman who wants to be a newspaper columnist/reporter. The protagonist, named Allie, faces tragedy early in the story, though this isn't emphasized as much as her desire to connect with her Greek heritage, which is in part awakened by the restoration and activities around a replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, the "Athens of the South". She is very much involved in her newspaper ambitions as well as her studies, and we are lulled into a pleasant story about her friends, plus interests in all things Greek, which abruptly changes in Chapter 18. To avoid giving it away, I won't say more, except that I found the story intriguing, and the character's reaction to the trauma that she faced later in the story to be unusual, but in keeping with her true ambition - and profession.