CHICAGO - Missouriar -- We Won't Go Back, the latest novel from award-winning author Charlene Wexler, has been published by Speaking Volumes.

We Won't Go Back, the second book of Wexler's Farewell to South Shore series, is the story of Babs, who lived a pleasant life in a northern suburb of Chicago, devoting her time to her husband and two teen daughters. When the Supreme Court signals that it is going to overturn Roe v. Wade, however, Babs' life changes as she reunites with her late mother's fellow activists from the 1970s to take up the fight for women's rights once again.

But family matters continue to intervene—a close relative's death, meeting a previously unknown half-brother, an unplanned pregnancy, and a nostalgic great aunt who wants her 100th birthday party to be a pilgrimage to the now-downtrodden South Shore community of Chicago.

Through it all comes a determination that We Won't Go Back to a time when women lacked basic rights.

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The frightening Highland Park, IL, Fourth of July parade shooting of 2022 also plays a prominent role in We Won't Go Back.

"I'm thrilled that Speaking Volumes has decided to publish We Won't Go Back," Wexler said. "Speaking Volumes is a great publisher and I know readers will enjoy the book. We Won't Go Back's themes of women's rights, women's place in American society, and the horrors of gun violence are as fresh and pertinent as today's headlines."

We Won't Go Back is available as a paperback and e-book from:

Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Speaking Volumes, and can be ordered at any bookstore.

Wexler's work has won awards from AuthorsDen.com, Communications Concepts, the eLit Book Awards, the Four Seasons Book Awards, Glimmer Train Magazine, the Global Book Awards, JUF News, and Writer's Digest. In February 2025, she was inducted into the Senior Illinoisans Hall of Fame.

For more information, go to Charlene Wexler's website at https://charlenewexler.com/, or Speaking Volumes' website at https://speakingvolumes.mybigcommerce.com/we-won-t-go-back-by-charlene-wexler-print-7rdb/.