TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Ling Ma said she hopes her new book will prompt readers to re-evaluate their everyday routines and "reconsider their own personal bigger picture of their own life."

The author spent her teenage years in Topeka and went to Washburn Rural High School. After graduating in 2001, Ma attended the University of Chicago.

Her debut novel "Severance" debuted on Tuesday in book stores and online, The Topeka Capital-Journal .

Ma began writing the story in 2012 as the media company where she worked was downsizing. Writing was a way to channel anger toward "being with larger companies, a...