United States, 6th Nov 2025 — Independent publisher Mount Hood Books & Media LLC proudly announces the release of Double Lives, a haunting and redemptive debut novel by Gail Emma Scott, available November 20, 2025. Set against the turbulent backdrop of 1970s Texas, Double Lives is a sweeping and emotionally charged story about the destructive power of secrets—and the redemptive strength of love, truth, and forgiveness.
A live launch event will be held at the Miami Book Fair, followed by a virtual lau
nch open to readers and reviewers worldwide. To request a link to join, email gailemmascott@gmail.com with the subject line “Virtual Book Launch RSVP.”
About the Novel
At the heart of Double Lives are three sisters—Jessie, Dawn, and Mandy Briggs—preacher’s daughters raised beneath the suffocating shadow of fame, faith, and fear. Their father, Reverend Willy Briggs, is a fiery Texas preacher whose rise from revival-tent sermons to national television celebrity transforms him into a self-styled prophet. What begins as obedience to a man worshipped by thousands becomes a fight to reclaim their own voices and truth.
When television producer Derrick Lewis and his wife Carla discover Willy preaching in an abandoned beer hall, they recognize his charisma—and their opportunity. Together, they catapult him to stardom, but their ambition soon corrupts everything it touches. As Willy’s hunger for power consumes him and Derrick’s unchecked desires spiral toward devastation, the Briggs family begins to fracture under the weight of deception and betrayal.
- Mandy, 19, struggles to redefine herself after escaping a manipulative affair with a married man.
- Dawn, 17, fights to hold the family together while battling her own self-doubt.
- Jessie, 13, bears a secret too painful to share—and too dangerous to keep.
Their mother, Betty Sue Briggs, a preacher’s daughter herself, longs to protect her girls but remains trapped in silence as her husband’s empire expands and their home collapses.
Told with cinematic precision and emotional honesty, Double Lives exposes the cultural climate that allowed charisma to overshadow character, fame to replace faith, and silence to masquerade as loyalty. As the sisters awaken to the hypocrisy surrounding them, their courage to confront the men who control their fate becomes the novel’s beating heart.
“Double Lives grew out of my fascination with shadow work and the versions of ourselves we show—and those we hide,” says Scott. “It’s about how faith and ambition can collide, and how courage and connection can lead us back to wholeness.”
More than a family saga, Double Lives is a revelation of what happens when truth becomes too dangerous to tell—and what it costs to finally speak it.
Dedication
Double Lives is dedicated to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and to all others whose happy childhoods ended abruptly at the hands of a sexual predator.
About the Author
Gail Emma Scott wrote several novels in her twenties but did not submit them for publication until 2025, at the age of 63. Born in Ohio and raised in Austin, Texas, during the early 1970s—a time of cultural upheaval and school integration—Scott later moved with her family to Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from The Blake School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.
Her career took her across Europe, including a year living in Budapest, Hungary, during the final years of communist rule. After marrying, she settled in North Carolina, where she and her husband raised three children before relocating to Portland, Oregon. There she worked as a communications director for a large healthcare company and developed a passion for restoring historic homes and managing rental properties. Eventually, she returned to her first love—writing—bringing with her decades of lived experience and emotional insight that now infuse her fiction.
Availability
Double Lives will be available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats through major online retailers beginning November 20, 2025.
Media Contact
Organization: Mount Hood Books and Media LLC
Contact Person: Gail Scott, for author interviews
Website: http://gailemmascott.com/
Email: Send Email
Country:United States
Release id:36594
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Gail Emma Scott Releases Her Debut Novel Double Lives
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