Love Historical Fiction but not sure what to read next? Join bestselling author, Jane Healey, monthly for 30 minutes of pure book recommendations – the best of historical fiction out there! We’re sure you’ll find something to like from Jane’s many enthusiastic reviews.
Jane Healey is the author of The Beantown Girls, a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller, The Secret Stealers, which was an Amazon First Reads Editor’s Pick and a Historical Novel Society’s Editors’ Choice, and her debut, The Saturday Evening Girls Club. Goodnight from Paris is her newly released novel from Lake Union Publishing. Jane is also the host of Historical Happy Hour, a monthly webinar and podcast featuring interviews with premier historical fiction authors and their latest novels. She and her family lives outside Boston. We can’t wait to hear what Jane will be recommending – be ready for your TBR pile to fall over!
A list of all recommendations will be shared for those who register. There will also be recordings of each meeting uploaded to the Ashland Public Library YouTube Channel.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library and is in collaboration with a multitude of MA and NH libraries.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Award finalist Adam Haslett will discuss his latest novel, Mothers and Sons, in this installment of “Author Hour in Massachusetts.”
About Adam: Adam Haslett is the author of the story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here and the novels Union Atlantic and Imagine Me Gone. He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, as well as a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Adam is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Berlin Prize, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He currently directs the MFA Program at Hunter College in New York.
About Mothers and Sons: At forty, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. He spends his days immersed in the struggles of immigrants only to return to an empty apartment and occasional hook-ups with a man who wants more than Peter can give. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter’s numbness, the event that he has avoided for twenty years returns to haunt him. Ann, his mother, who runs a women’s retreat center she founded after leaving his father, is hurt by the estrangement from Peter but cherishes the world she has built. She long ago put behind her the decision that divided her from her son. But as Peter’s case plunges him further into the fraught memory of his first love and the night of violence that changed his life, he and his mother must confront the secret that tore them apart. With unsurpassed emotional depth, Mothers and Sons reveals all that is lost by looking away from the past and the love that might be restored by facing it. This spellbinding novel has received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly.
About Author Hour in Massachusetts: “Author Hour in Massachusetts” is a series of virtual author talks this winter featuring some of the publishing industry’s top trending writers. These webinars — held from 7pm (ET) to 8pm (ET), Monday through Friday — are free and open to all. This series, which runs through March 20, 2025, is being promoted by more than 50 public libraries in Massachusetts. Stay tuned for future events!
If interested, please click HERE to purchase a copy of this book from the event’s bookstore partner, Wellesley Books. Book sales will help support future virtual author events.
Start the New Year with a fresh perspective through mindful and cozy crafting. Explore the newest Creativebug classes designed to inspire you!
Using your library card and PIN, create your own account for FREE and nurture your creative side with 1000+ video classes in painting, knitting, crafting, sewing & more!
As creators, our bodies are essential tools that deserve careful attention. Join Liza Laird, a knitter and yogi, as she explores beautiful ways to integrate body, mind, and spirit into artmaking. You don’t need a yoga practice or prior knowledge of knitting to benefit from this distinctive daily practice. While Liza demonstrates knitting up the Mala Cowl, a luscious two-color brioche stitch project from her book Yoga of Yarn, feel free to participate with any project of your choosing. Throughout the month, she shares mindfulness techniques and simple, adaptable movements that can be done right from your seat. Whether you’re interested in taking a spiritual journey with your craft or simply aiming to keep your body limber for extended art sessions, this class provides the tools for mindful making.
There’s no need to fret if you find a hole in your clothes. Mending with natural wool felt is not only practical but also decorative, fun, and possibly easier than you might think. Fiber artist and handwork teacher Melissa of Hex House Crowns demonstrates two ways to mend clothing with needle felting. First, mend directly onto the fabric, which is a good method for lighter, more delicate fabrics – Melissa demonstrates a sweet heart shape as well as a sun. Then, learn to needle felt a patch, which is best for thicker fabrics like canvas and denim. Melissa walks you through making a rainbow patch and a mushroom, and also how to use the blanket stitch to finish the edge of a patch and sew it to a garment. You’ll soon see that you have the freedom to create any shape or design that you want, and that you’ve learned a new way to repair your clothes to make them as unique as you.
CbMixtapes are playlists made of specific bits taken from different classes and grouped together by a common theme. It’s a fun way to learn how one topic is approached by a variety of artists with different techniques, all rounded up in one curated mixtape.
Eyes are, of course, “the windows to the soul,” and while we love portraiture, representing just an eye can be an efficient way to represent a person. These classes are taught by different artists and use a variety of media to draw, sketch, paint, and capture eyes.
Unlock the potential of everyday materials by transforming food packaging into printmaking plates that yield beautiful, accessible results. Courtney Cerruti, artist and Creativebug Editor-In-Chief, fell in love with this technique because it is similar to etching on metal plates but has a convenient twist—the materials you’ll use are recycled, readily available, and easy to work with. This approach encourages free and spontaneous exploration, without the worry of “ruining a plate.” In this class, learn how to upcycle a TetraPak into a printing plate, create abstract images from organic shapes, etch prints by drawing directly onto the surface, and cut away spaces that will print in black. This sustainable method offers a creative and attainable way to dive into printmaking.
Love Women’s Fiction but not sure what to read next? Join bestselling author, Kristan Higgins (and Ashland fave!), quarterly for 30 minutes of pure book recommendations – the best of women’s fiction out there! We’re sure you’ll find something to like from Kristan’s many enthusiastic reviews.
Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than twenty novels, which have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books have received dozens of awards and accolades, including starred reviews from Entertainment Weekly, People, Kirkus, The New York Journal of Books, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist.
The mother of two fantastic adults and a smitten grandmother, Kristan enjoys gardening, mixology, the National Parks and being overly helpful to strangers. She lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband and a variety of rescued pets.
A list of all recommendations will be shared for those who register. There will also be recordings of each meeting uploaded to the Ashland Public Library YouTube Channel.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library and is in collaboration with a multitude of MA and NH libraries.
Bestselling authors Scott Turow (Presumed Guilty) and Alafair Burke (The Note) will discuss their newest thrillers, in conversation with Dwyer Murphy, editor-in-chief of CrimeReads, in this installment of “Author Hour in Massachusetts.”
About Scott: Scott Turow, a writer and former practicing lawyer, is the author of thirteen bestselling works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent and most recently, Suspect. He has also published two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects, including Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent series. Scott has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic.
About Presumed Guilty: Rusty is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon-to-be wife, Bea, with whom he shares both a restful home on an idyllic lake in the rural Midwest and a plaintive hope that this marriage will be his best, and his last. But the peace that’s taken Rusty so long to find evaporates when Bea’s young adult son, Aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. If Aaron doesn’t return soon, he will be sent back to jail. Aaron eventually turns up with a vague story about a camping trip with his troubled girlfriend, Mae, that ended in a fight and a long hitchhike home. Days later, when she still hasn’t returned, suspicion falls on Aaron, and when Mae is subsequently discovered dead, Aaron is arrested and set for trial on charges of first-degree murder. Faced with few choices and even fewer hopes, Bea begs Rusty to return to court one last time, to defend her son and to save their last best hope for happiness. For Rusty, the question is not whether to defend Aaron, or whether the boy is in fact innocent—it’s whether the system to which he has devoted his life can ever provide true justice for those who are presumed guilty.
About Alafair: Alafair Burke is the Edgar-nominated, New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels of suspense, including The Ex, The Wife, The Better Sister, and Find Me, and coauthor of the best-selling Under Suspicion series. A former prosecutor, she is now a professor of criminal law. She recently served as president of the Mystery Writers of America and was the first woman of color to be elected to that position. She lives in New York.
About The Note: A vacation in the Hamptons goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history. It was meant to be a harmless prank. Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she’s had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends. What had they gone and done? The Note is a page-turner of the highest order from one of our greatest contemporary suspense writers.
About Dwyer: Dwyer Murphy is the author of The Stolen Coast and An Honest Living, both New York Times Editors’ Choice selections. His new novel, The House on Buzzards Bay, will be released in June 2025 from Viking. He is the Editor-in-Chief of CrimeReads and was previously a New York-based litigator.
About Author Hour in Massachusetts: “Author Hour in Massachusetts” is a series of virtual author talks this winter featuring some of the publishing industry’s top trending writers. These webinars — held from 7pm (ET) to 8pm (ET), Monday through Friday — are free and open to all. This series, which runs through March 20, 2025, is being promoted by more than 50 public libraries in Massachusetts. Stay tuned for future events!
If interested, please click HERE to purchase a copy of this book from the event’s bookstore partner, Wellesley Books. Book sales will help support future virtual author events.
