She Persisted
In this session, Laurie Albanese, Sadeqa Johnson, and Nghi Vo will discuss ways their protagonists refuse to let other people - and social norms - stand in the way of making their dreams a reality.
| Tickets: | This is a ticketed event. Tickets are not available yet. |
| Where: | Modern Languages Room 350 (Seats 318, Wheelchair accessible)  |
| When: | Sun, Mar 5, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm |
| Signing area: | Sales & Signing Area - Central Mall (following presentation)
|
| Genre: | Fiction / Literature |
| Moderator: | Emily Walsh |
Panelists
Laurie AlbaneseLaurie Lico Albanese is an award-winning novelist and journalist. Hester is an Audible Best Book of 2022, an IndieNext and Canadian and American Librarians October 2022 selection, a Gillian Flynn Best Books of Fall 2022, a Book of the Month club selection, and a finalist in the Goodreads Best Books of the Year....
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Sadeqa JohnsonSadeqa Johnson is the award-winning author of "And Then There Was Me," "Second House From the Corner," "Love in a Carry-on Bag" and "Yellow Wife." "Yellow Wife" is a 2022 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy nominee, a BCLA Literary Honoree and a Barnes & Noble book club pick in paperback....
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Nghi VoNghi Vo is the author of the novels "Siren Queen" and "The Chosen and the Beautiful," as well as the acclaimed novellas "Into the Riverlands," "When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain" and "The Empress of Salt and Fortune," a Locus and Ignyte Award finalist and the winner of the Crawford Award and the Hugo Award....
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Books:
Hester
A Novel
Laurie Albanese
Fiction / Literature
St. Martin's Publishing Group
October 2022
ISBN 9781250278555
Hardcover, 336 pages
A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials.
Who is the real Hester Prynne?
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Glasgow for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.
When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down. More/less
Siren Queen
Nghi Vo
Fiction / Literature
Tor Publishing Group
May 2022
ISBN 9781250788832
288 pages
The House of Eve
Sadeqa Johnson
Fiction / Literature
Simon & Schuster
March 2023
ISBN 9781982197360
352 pages
From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring, beautiful, and redemptive novel that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.
1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.
Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.
With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives. More/less
