Patti Callahan Henry in Conversation with Pam Jenoff

***Ticket price includes one hardcover copy of the book*** 

New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry’s boundless love of books prompted her to create her newest historical novel. It follows Hazel and Flora Lea Linden, sisters evacuated from London during the Blitz in World War II to the countryside, who escape their harsh reality by going to Whisperwood: a make-believe land all their own. This beautiful, unforgettable novel illuminates how the love of books, the magic of storytelling, and the power of love can unite us all. I invite you to open the pages and experience the magic of Whisperwood for yourself.

“Transporting, heartfelt, and atmospheric” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA (May 2, 2023; Atria) follows a woman who stumbles across a mysterious children’s book and long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.

But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.

1959: Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel’s future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?

For fans of Kate Morton, Janet Skeslien Charles, and Kristin Hannah, this is a “fantastical” (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) celebration of sisterhood and the magic of storytelling wrapped up in a “heartrending, captivating tale of family, first love, and fate” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).

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 cocreator of the popular weekly online live web show and podcast Friends and Fiction. A full-time author and mother of three, she lives in Alabama and South Carolina with her family.