Oct 18, 2018
Reyna worked for many years as an appellate attorney in New York and brings that knowledge to bear in a legal thriller/coming of age/romance story that follows a young female public defender as she navigates not only a case involving a possible miscarriage of justice but also personal challenges as she struggles to decide what kind of person she really wants to be. Reyna wrote her first draft in six weeks, but spent three years in revision, primarily using feedback through writing classes offered at Sarah Lawrence.
After graduating from Yale College and Yale Law School, Reyna
Marder Gentin practiced as a juvenile rights attorney with the
Legal Aid Society and then as a criminal appellate attorney with a
nonprofit public defender’s office for nearly eighteen years. That
job, and a number of the clients she represented, inspired the
story of UNREASONABLE DOUBTS. The novel is more than a legal
thriller. It’s the story of Liana Cohen, a young woman grappling to
salvage her idealism in an often harsh world, and learning how to
find friendship, faith, and love in the right places.
Reyna keeps a hand in the law as a volunteer, representing women
and men seeking restraining orders against their intimate partners.
She has written and continues to write personal essays for a number
of websites including Kveller, Mamalode, Grown & Flown and others.
Reyna's short story, “A Reckoning,” was published in the 2017 issue
of the Westchester Review, and her psychological thriller,
"Complicity," appears online at The Write Launch. She lives with
her family in Westchester, New York.
To learn more about Reyna, click here.