I Need a Good Title

   

      I finished a book in February, but I need a good title for it. Sometimes I don't have a problem with the title and sometimes I do. I knew from the moment I started writing Heaven's Blue that would be the title of the book. The same thing happened with Sea of Hope. But for other books, I wound up writing lists of ideas as to what I would name them. The publisher at Pelican Book Group came up with the title for Angel of the L Train. I originally named it Home Somewhere, which is a very boring title.

     This latest book is set in 1903 in a Jersey shore town. I have a Pinterest board with a gazillion photos of the Jersey shore in the early 1900s. It was a popular place. (And still is. New Jersey has very nice beaches.) The protagonist's name Amaranth Beach since she was found at a beach wrapped in a tattered shawl with a sprig of seabeach amaranth on it. Raised in a Catholic orphanage, she was taught to be a secretary. She is given a job with with a woman who is very involved with the suffragist cause. 

     Chinese people in the United States at that time were not citizens. The first significant law restricting immigration into the United States was the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1882. It banned Chinese laborers. In 1902, the Chinese were required to obtain a certificate of residence, without it they faced deportation. 

     So, the protagonist of this story fears being sent back to a place she doesn't know and where she cannot speak the language. 

     Of course, there is a love interest. The woman who hired the young protagonist has a son. 

     I've looked online and there are many books with the word orphan in the title. Secretary is a popular in titles as well. Beach Orphan? Hide Tide Orphan? Or maybe simply Miss Beach? 

     I'll be searching for more ideas. But in the meantime, you can check out my board on Pinterest with all the photos I've been saving to help me with this book: https://www.pinterest.com/penelopemarzec/amaranth/