Lori Tharps (photo by John Barone)

Assistant Professor Lori Tharps, JOUR, has published her most recent novel, “Substitute Me” (Atria Books).

Prior to joining Temple’s School of Communications and Theater, Tharps was a staff writer for Vibe magazine and a correspondent for Entertainment Weekly. She continues to write and has appeared in publications such as Glamour, Essence and Vogue Black. She has authored three books.

Synopsis: “Zora Anderson, an African American 30-year-old college dropout with wanderlust, leaves her accidental au pair position in Paris and returns to her hometown of Ann Arbor with no life plan in mind and no real goals on the horizon.  With pressure mounting from her well-educated, upper-middle class parents to do something useful with her life and with her own self-doubt growing, Zora decides to start over in New York and sublets a small Fort Greene studio apartment from a friend who is attending college in Massachusetts.  After combing the newspaper classifieds and finding a want ad for a “substitute me,” Zora lands a job in Park Slope with a WASP-y professional couple in their 30s, Kate and Brad Carter, to look after their young son, Oliver. Although Zora’s primary goal is to merely keep the rent money coming in to pay for her sublet, she soon becomes attached to Oliver, a baby with a sweet disposition who is adored by his parents. But as happy as she is with the Carters, Zora keeps her job a secret from her parents whom she is certain will view her position as demeaning and not much different than one of servitude. While Oliver’s mother, Kate, initially feels ambivalent about returning to work after her maternity leave, she soon adjusts to being back in the office and spends long hours there as she keeps a close eye on a competitive colleague who wants her job. With Kate’s new long hours, Zora begins working overtime to accommodate her employer’s hectic schedule and becomes a true substitute in the Carter household in ways she never would have imagined.”

Visit Tharps’ website.