It is her second published novel[1] and was listed as a 2014 Best Children's Book of the Year from the Children's Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education.

[2] It features Josie Moraine, a young woman in the 1950s French Quarter of New Orleans who struggles to escape her family and become the author of her own destiny.

[3] Sepetys has said that Out of the Easy was born from her discovery of the biography The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld and her interest in post-war America, which, contrary to her expectations, was full of "suffering and secrets.

"[4] She also attributes her interest in New Orleans to a gift of vintage opera glasses with an engraved name, enabling her to find out who the original owner was.

[5] As with all her books, Sepetys undertook several research trips, which led her to discover news articles about "tourists who met an untimely end"; she later worked this into the novel.