The Council of Friends of Public Libraries, Aaron’s Books and the Library System of Lancaster County are pleased to announce their 15th Anniversary Celebration Author Luncheon that will feature two best-selling authors — Sue Miller and Jennifer Chiaverini! The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the Calvary Church, 1051 Landis Valley Rd, Lancaster, PA.
Doors will open at 9:30 am. Note that the program will start with the first author presentation by Jennifer Chiaverini at 10:45 am. Sue Miller’s presentation will be at 1:30 pm immediately following the luncheon.
The annual event is a fundraising event for public libraries in Lancaster County. Tickets will be sold for the event at a cost of $45. Ticket price includes the luncheon, two author presentations and a complimentary paperback copy of Sue Miller’s latest novel, The Arsonist. For an additional $20, guests may reserve a signed hardback copy of Jennifer Chiaverini’s newest book, Mrs. Grant and Madam Jule. All proceeds from the luncheon and the sale of books will benefit the public libraries.
Sue Miller is the best-selling author of the novels The Lake Shore Limited, The Senator’s Wife, Lost in the Forest, The World Below, While I Was Gone, The Distinguished Guest, For Love, Family Pictures, and The Good Mother; the story collection Inventing the Abbotts; and the memoir The Story of My Father. Two of her novels have been into feature films, and her book While I Was Gone was an Oprah’s Book Club pick in 2000. She is currently a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing classes. She lives in Boston.
The Arsonist by Sue Miller
With her trademark elegant prose and masterful command of subtle psychological nuance, Miller explores the tensions between the summer people and the locals in a small New Hampshire town. Frankie Rowley, after years spent doing relief work abroad, has returned to her parents’ summer home, unsure of whether she will ever go back to East Africa, feeling depleted by that region’s seemingly endless suffering. But the reassuring comfort of the small town she has been coming to since she was a girl is shattered by a series of fires set by an arsonist who has targeted the rambling summer homes of the wealthy. Frankie falls into an unexpected and passionate love affair with the local newspaper editor while also becoming privy to her parents’ difficulties, with her mother seeming to resent her husband’s decline into Alzheimer’s, especially since she no longer loves him. The town, awash in fear of the unknown arsonist, splits into factions aligned along class divisions. In this suspenseful and romantic novel, Miller delicately parses the value of commitment and community, the risky nature of relationships, and the yearning for meaningful work. (Source: Booklist)
Jennifer Chiaverini lives with her husband and two sons in Madison, Wisconsin. She has written Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival (2014); Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker (2013) and The Spymistress (2012). In addition to these novels, she is the author of sixteen volumes in the Elm Creek Quilts series and four books of quilt patterns inspired by the novels. She designs the Elm Creek Quilts fabric line from Red Rooster Fabrics. For more information about Jennifer, please visit her website at www.elmcreek.net
Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule by Jennifer Chiaverini
In Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini imagines the profound and complex relationship between beloved First Lady Julia Grant and the courageous, resourceful woman who was her slave. In 1844, the shy Missouri belle Julia Dent met Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant, a brilliant horseman and reluctant soldier. The two fell deeply in love, but four years passed before Julia’s father permitted them to wed. The groom’s abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony. Despite her new husband’s objections, Julia kept as her slave another Julia, known as Jule. Since childhood they had been companions and confidantes; Julia was gifted with prophetic dreams, which Jule helped her interpret. Julia secretly taught Jule to read, while Jule became her vision-impaired mistress’s eyes to the world. But beneath the gathering clouds of war, the stark distinctions between mistress and slave inevitably strained and altered their tenuous friendship.
About The Council of Friends
The Council of Friends of Lancaster County Public Libraries, established in 2000, is made up of volunteers who are avid readers committed to promoting reading in the community. Since 2010, after forming a partnership with Aaron’s Books (Lititz), the Council has raised over $30,000 that was distributed to each of our 17 public libraries and the bookmobile.
Tickets for the 2015 luncheon will go on sale February 1st. The $45 ticket price includes a paperback copy of Sue Miller’s The Arsonist. Autographing sessions by both authors will take place at the end of their presentations. Contact Sue Newswanger at 717-354-8016 or email at news1165@gmail.com to purchase tickets. Checks should be made payable to The Council of Friends.
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