Sounds Like Trouble to Me
Debut May 12, 2026
“Trounstine’s stunner isn’t just about the toll prison life takes on women… Rich with love for her indelible characters, this is a blindingly original MeToo novel, showing how even in the darkest environment, female friendship builds extraordinary power and light… A truly remarkable read.”
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder
“Stories like this help people understand that women’s incarceration carries layers of trauma. So often we are punished when what we truly need are healing centers, support, and restoration… The world needs this story.”
—Stacey Borden, founder of New Beginnings Reentry Services
“Jean Trounstine’s Sounds Like Trouble to Me is a valuable and important book… not least the window it opens into the seldom-seen-by-civilians world of corrections officers.”
—Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising and more than twenty other books
“In her remarkable debut novel, Sounds Like Trouble to Me, Jean Trounstine takes readers on a perilous journey through the U.S. legal system, behind bars, and beyond. This affecting tale is soaked with empathy and understanding.”
—Stona Fitch, author of Death Watch
“Sounds Like Trouble to Me took me through so many different emotions. The details in the story were mind blowing… it gives readers insight into how your whole life can change in an instant.”
—Angelia Jefferson, formerly incarcerated freedom fighter, now transform-harm coordinator at Families for Justice as Healing
“This powerful read transported me back to the many housing units in women’s prisons… where courageous women form loving and nurturing communities despite trauma and abuse. Nettie represents many criminalized survivors. A sheroic journey.”
—Olinda Moyd, movement lawyer, decarceration advocate, social justice activist, and law clinic professor
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A message from Jean about her new novel, Sounds Like Trouble to Me
Other Published Works
Scenes from Jean’s Journey
Moments from Jean’s work as a writer, teacher, and advocate.
