Too Big a Storm is about 18 year-old Brady Callahan. One night in July, 1969, while on vacation in northern Minnesota with her mother and two younger brothers, she goes to a wild beach party. Her life is never the same. It's not a book about the dangers or thrills of wild parties, though. It's a book about friends, family, war, love, music and art.

Where did you get the idea?

Too Big a Storm has its origins in a novel I wrote ten years ago, Come in from the Cold. I wanted to explore something that I felt I left untouched in that novel. In that novel the main character has a sister who is a political radical. I wanted to explore the reasons someone would make that choice. At first I intended to structure this new novel by using side-by-side stories for each of the two main characters, Brady and her new best friend, Sally. Though both the girls are active in what we now call peace and justice issues and both oppose the Vietnam War, it's Sally who becomes a political radical. As I was writing, however, the novel veered away from Sally and I focused on Brady. Also, when I first sat down to write the novel I had no intention of including any romance. I just didn't see that happening in Brady's life. Well, I was surprised. Stories have a funny way of becoming something you didn't quite expect.

Is this one your favorite?

Yes! I absolutely fell in love with Brady and her family and friends while I was writing this story. So, too, it goes without saying that I like Brady a lot.

		New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
		Junior Library Guild selection
		Volunteer State Book Award master list, 2006-2007
		ALA Best Books for Young Adults, nominee
		Minnesota Book Award, finalist
		“ . . .Qualey pulls the reader into the world that made up 1960s America” VOYA
		“ . . . it captures the wild anguish of the times.” Booklist
		“It's a penetrating exploration of love and loss among people who can't escape the tumult of their times.” Kirkus Reviews