Patti Callahan Henry, The Story She Left Behind
March 22 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Join McIntyre’s Books for this Author Event, “The Story She Left Behind,” in conversation with Patti Callahan Henry and Frances Mayes on Sat, Mar 22, 11am-12pm.
Inspired by an actual literary mystery, the New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both. Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.
This is a ticketed event. Buy a copy of “The Story She Left Behind” and gain entrance for you and a friend.
BOOK SUMMARY
In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was twelve. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beautiful mother.
By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London, claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patti Callahan Henry is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of several novels, including “Surviving Savannah” and “Becoming Mrs. Lewis.” She is the recipient of the Christy Award, the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year Award, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year. She is the cohost and co-creator of the popular weekly online live web show and podcast “Friends and Fiction.” She lives in Alabama and South Carolina with her family.
Frances Mayes is the author of the now-classic “Under the Tuscan Sun,” which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a Touchstone movie starring Diane Lane. Other international bestsellers include “Bella Tuscany,” “Everyday in Tuscany,” “A Year in the World”, and three illustrated books: “In Tuscany,” “Bringing Tuscany Home,” and “The Tuscan Sun Cookbook.” She is also the author of three novels: “Swan,” “A Great Marriage,” and “Women in Sunlight”. She has written six books of poetry and “The Discovery of Poetry.”The most recent books are “See You in the Piazza” and “Always Italy.” Her books have been translated into more than fifty languages.
Fearrington Village is part of the Chatham County Craft Beverages & Country Inns Trail. See more events at Fearrington Village.