Virtual - An Evening with Author Martha Hall Kelly

The Simsbury Public Library and The Friends will co-host New York Times best-selling author Martha Hall Kelly.  Kelly’s million-copy bestseller, Lilac Girls, introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, she tells the story of Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War whose calling leads her to cross paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Anne-May Wilson, a Southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists. Inspired by true accounts, Sunflower Sisters provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the barbaric and inhumane plantations, to a war-torn New York City, to the horrors of the battlefield. It’s a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty, a story still so relevant today. “As well researched and engaging as Lost Roses and Lilac Girls . . . Drawing on real events and primary sources, Kelly illuminates parts of history infrequently told”— Booklist review.

Martha Hall Kelly worked as an advertising copywriter for many years and raised a family while working on her debut novel, Lilac Girls, which became an instant bestseller the first week it was published. She holds a degree in Journalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and a Master's degree in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School.  She lives in Connecticut and Martha's Vineyard.

Reserve by date: February 4