Dine with these acclaimed novelists at Bibliofeast at Maggiano's on Oct. 13

Wiley Cash

There's a bit of magic when you meet the person who's created the novel or short story you fell in love with. It's like when you were six, and you happened on your first grade teacher in the grocery store. Not until that moment did you get it that she actually existed outside the classroom. And now, as an adult, you see that this writer, whose hand you are shaking, lives in a world as tangible as the one you inhabit.

You'll have the opportunity to enjoy that special magic at a Bibliofest, 6-9 p.m., on Oct. 13, when 10 well-known and highly praised writers join you for dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy at SouthPark in Charlotte.

There's not even the slightest catch. All you need is a ticket.
 
The event is sponsored by the local chapter of the Women's National Book Association, a group that brings together book lovers and book industry professionals who support reading and writing.

The line-up of authors is impressive: Wilmington's acclaimed Wiley Cash, author of the novel, "This Dark Road to Mercy";  Raleigh's Kim Church, author of a stunning first novel, "Byrd"; Charlotte's own Kim Wright, whose novel, "The Unexpected Waltz," swirls with suspense and details about Charlotte.

And a writer I've just discovered, Winston-Salem's Charlie Lovett, author of a brand-new, gorgeous book, "First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love and Jane Austen." And Decatur, Ga.'s Joshilyn Jackson, who wrote a page-turner of a novel about science and miracles, "Someone Else's Love Story."

Charlotte's own Erika Marks will be on hand. She gave us the taut novel, "It Comes In Waves," set on Folly Beach, S.C. And Wilmington's Rebecca Petruck, author of the popular "Steering Toward Normal," a middle school favorite. Also Allegra Jordan of Chapel Hill, whose lyrical war novel, "The End of Innocence," abounds with rich, historical detail. 

N.P. Simpson of Raleigh will be there. She gave us "B.O.Q.: An NCIS Special Agent Fran Setliff Novel," a military mystery set on Camp LeJeune. And Charleston's John Warley, whose novel, "A Southern Girl," is touted by Pat Conroy as the best book he's ever read about Charleston's "mysterious and glittering high society."

To Purchase Tickets:

$45 for members of The Women's National Book Association
$55 for non-members
www.wnba-Charlotte.org or purchase at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Park Road Shopping Center.

Deadline for ticket purchase: Oct. 10.
  



 

If You're Craving the Ocean, These New Novels Offer Coastal Settings

Stuck inland this month and pining for water? Here's a stack of new fiction -- each one set so close to the ocean you can hear the waves crashing.

"It Comes in Waves" (Penguin, $15 original paperback) is the fourth novel of Charlotte's Erika

Marks. The novel concerns Claire, whose fiance left her for her best friend Jill. Now it's 18 years
later, Jill is a widow and raising a teenage son on Folly Beach, S.C., which is where ESPN happens to send Claire to  make a documentary about surfing. After a chance meeting, the two women open the old gritty bag of guilt, blame and, perhaps, forgiveness. If you want to attend the launch party at Fountainhead Books in Hendersonville on Tuesday, July 1, at 7 p.m., you can pre-buy a copy of the novel from Fountainhead for two tickets (828-697-1870).

Sullivans Island, S.C. native and bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank (who appears to have signed books everywhere in the Southeast but Charlotte) gives us three generations of Low Country women in "The Hurricane Sisters" (Morrow, $26.99), a novel of buried secrets, sexual electricity, domestic disturbance and teenage angst.  Real-life touchstones: Langdon's and Basil's on Mt. Pleasant, Donleavy's Pub on Sullivans and Martha Lou's in Charleston ("one of those places you only know if you were from Charleston or a local took you there.") Frank is also the author of "Sullivan's Island," "Porch Lights," "Pawley's Island" and "The Last Original Wife."

HarperCollins acquired the novel, "The Story of Land and Sea" ($26.99), in a ten-house, seven-bidder auction. Known in the trade as a "big buzz book," this debut novel is by Katy Simpson Smith, a Jackson, Miss., native, who earned her PhD in history at UNC Chapel Hill. Set in 1793 in Beaufort, the novel tells the story of a father desperate to save his 10-year-old daughter Tabitha from a yellow fever epidemic. Entwined is the long-ago story of Tabitha's mother as a child and her uneasy friendship with a young slave girl named Moll. "The Story," already hailed as a "striking achievement" by "an extraordinary writer," is due in August.

From the author of the prize-winning short story collection, "How to Escape from a Leper Colony," Tiphanie Yanique's first novel, "Land of Love and Drowning" (Riverhead Books, $27.95) is set on her native St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. The novel chronicles three generations of the Bradshaw family through the 20th Century. According to Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., the novel weaves stories of "magic and lust" (read also incest), "unknown connections," "hidden mysteries," "family legacies," and "an island undergoing historical changes." Publisher's Weekly says: "Yanique offers an affecting narrative of the Virgin Islands that pulses with life, vitality and a haunting evocation of place."