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AUTHORS RAY FRANZE & LESLIE LIAUTAUD AT LAKE FOREST BOOK STORE

We welcome authors Ray Franze and Leslie Liautaud as they present their books: 

THE HEIGHTS

BLACK BEAR LAKE

Thursday, April 4th, 2024, 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

THE HEIGHTS: FALL IN LINE, OR FALL IN A GRAVE. Based on the true story of an Italian immigrant who ruthlessly fought his way into Al Capone's inner circle and expanded organized crime across the American West. It's hard to believe Sal Liparello has survived long enough to enjoy a midday scotch on his California tomato farm. The sixty-something crime boss from Chicago Heights helped take out Sicilian gangs, advised Al Capone on some of his biggest moves, and rubbed elbows with the Kennedys, Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe - all while avoiding the likes of Eliot Ness and J. Edgar Hoover. But as he surveys the fruits of his labor, Sal also remembers the cost of staying above ground and out of prison. And all those decisions are about to catch up with him.

Ray Franze’s combination of curiosity, knowledge and amazing exposure to stories of the Chicago mob has given him a unique perspective to bring to life his debut novel. Ray has spent nearly 30 years trading options at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade after graduating with a BBA from the University of Iowa. He grew up with his two older sisters in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, where his loving parents and grandparents helped instill a strong work ethic, including the mantra “There’s no such word as can’t.” When Ray chose writing as a creative outlet, he relied on that mantra to finish his debut. And after more than 25 years in the “pits,” he has many more stories to tell. He lives with his wife of 20 years, Nicole, in the Chicago suburbs, where they raised three daughters.

BLACK BEAR LAKE:  Adam Craig still has nightmares about the last summer he spent on the shores of northern Wisconsin's Black Bear Lake. The Chicago stock trader thinks he has it under control - until fallout from an explosive August in 1983 threatens his marriage. So Adam returns to remember that month-long family reunion, where he was busy wrestling with developing adolescence, a parent's failing health, and watching his cousin Dannie's desperate cries for help. At 14, Adam's fear and anger were constantly threatening to pull him under while the current running through his family flowed, inevitably, toward tragedy. It was too much to bear back then. But will reliving those painful memories hurt or help Adam as his adult life teeters on the edge of collapse?

Leslie Liautaud is the author of Midnight Waltzes (2006), He Is Us (2008), The Wreck (2009), SALIGIA (2011), The Mansion (2012) and Summer Nights and Dreams (2012) and Southern Gothic (2018). She is also the author of the coming-of-age novel, Black Bear Lake (Blue Handle Publishing, 2022). Leslie is originally from Kansas City, MO where she worked in the performing arts. Currently, she resides in Nashville, TN with her husband, Jimmy John Liautaud, their three children and four rambunctious dogs.

LUNCHEON WITH AUTHOR CLAIRE LOMBARDO

Join us at Froggy's French Cafe for an author luncheon and discussion with Claire Lombardo discussing her new novel:

SAME AS IT EVER WAS 

Doubleday June 18, 2024 $30.00

Wednesday, June 19, 2024 11:30am-1:30pm

306 Green Bay Road

Highwood, IL 60040

$75 includes lunch and a copy of the book (additional copies on hand for sale)

Space is limited, please RSVP at 847-234-4420

The New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had (“wonderfully immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.

Julia Ames, after a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, has found herself on the placid plateau of mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, she finally feels, at age fifty seven, that she has a firm handle on things.

She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.

CLAIRE LOMBARDO is the author of The Most Fun We Ever Had, which has been optioned for television by Reese Witherspoon. Claire is a graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  Her short fiction has appeared in, among others, Playboy, Barrelhouse Magazine, Little Fiction, and Longform. Her story, "I Only Want to Talk About Nice Things," was one of 2016's Best of Net, and was #1 on Longform's 2015 fiction list.  Prior to publishing The Most Fun We Ever Had, Claire spent several years working with homeless children and families in Chicago.  She has taught fiction writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Grinnell College and currently works part-time as a bookseller at Prairie Lights Books.  A native of Oak Park, Illinois, she now lives in Iowa City, Iowa with her dog, Renee

LUNCHEON WITH AUTHOR LISA BARR IN CONVERSATION WITH RENEE ROSEN

Join us at The Gallery of Lake Forest for an author luncheon and discussion with author Lisa Barr in conversation with Renee Rosen discussing her new novel:

THE GODDESS OF WARSAW

Harper Collins May 28, 2024 $18.99

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 11:30am-1:30pm

202 East Wisconsin Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 66045

$75 includes lunch and a copy of the book (additional copies on hand for sale)

Space is limited, please RSVP at 847-234-4420

The Goddess Of Warsaw is an enthralling tale of a legendary Hollywood screen goddess with a dark secret about her life in the Warsaw Ghetto. When the famous actress is threatened by someone from her past, she must put her skills into play to protect herself, her illustrious career, and those she loves, then and now.  

Los Angeles, 2005. Sienna Hayes, Hollywood’s latest It Girl, has ambitions to work behind the camera. When she meets Lena Browning, the enormously mysterious and famous Golden Age movie star, Sienna sees her big break. She wants to direct a picture about Lena’s life—but the legendary actor’s murky past turns out to be even darker than Sienna dreamed. Before she was a Living Legend, Lena Browning was Bina Blonski, a Polish Jew whose life and family were destroyed by the Nazis.

Warsaw, 1943. A member of the city’s Jewish elite, Bina Blonski and her husband, Jakub, are imprisoned in the ghastly, cramped ghetto along with the rest of Warsaw’s surviving Jews. Determined to fight back against the brutal Nazis, the beautiful, blonde Aryan-looking Bina becomes a spy, gaining information and stealing weapons outside the ghetto to protect her fellow Jews. But her dangerous circumstances grow complicated when she falls in love with Aleksander, an ally in resistance—and Jakub’s brother. While Lena accomplishes amazing feats of bravery, she sacrifices much in the process.

Over a decade after escaping the horrors of the ghetto, Bina, now known as Lena, rises to fame in Hollywood. Yet she cannot help but be reminded of her old life and hungers for revenge against the Nazis who escaped justice after the war. Her power and fame as a movie star offer Lena the chance to right the past’s wrongs . . . and perhaps even find the happy ending she never had.

A gripping page-turner of one of history’s most heroic uprisings and an actress whose personal war never ends, The Goddess Of Warsaw is filled with secrets, lies, twists and turns, and a burning pursuit of justice no matter the cost.

Lisa Barr is the New York Times bestselling author of Woman on Fire, The Unbreakables, and the award-winning historical thriller Fugitive Colors. She has served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, managing editor of Today's Chicago Woman and Moment magazine, and as an editor and reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. She has appeared on Good Morning America and Today for her work as an author, journalist, and blogger. Actress Sharon Stone is set to produce and star in the film adaptation of Woman on Fire. Lisa lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three daughters (aka: Drama Central).

Renee Rosen is a USA Today bestselling author. Her novels include Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl, The Social Graces, Park Avenue Summer, Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants and Dollface as well as the young adult novel, Every Crooked Pot. She is currently working on a new novel about the Barbie doll creator, Ruth Handler, coming from Penguin Random House/Berkley in 2025. Renee is a native of Akron, Ohio and a graduate of The American University in Washington DC.  She now lives in Chicago.

YOUNG ADULT AUTHOR EMILY LOCKER AT LAKE FORES BOOKSTORE IN CONVERSATION WITH JOURNALIST ALISON BOWEN

Join young adult author Emily Locker in-conversation with Alison Bowen discussing her new book:

RUNNING MATES

Bancroft Press February 14th, 2024 $18.95

Monday, April 8th, 2024, 6PM-7PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

In a divided town, two teens from opposite sides of the political spectrum must learn to work together when their favorite bookstore unionizes. Can they find common ground and fall in love, or will their differences tear them apart?

In the quaint yet politically charged town of Edgartown, North Carolina, two worlds are about to collide. Meet Annabelle Morningstar, an impassioned, quirky high school activist raised by her news anchor and surgeon mothers, both champions of progressive ideals. Across town, there's Gabe Delgado, the quintessential all-American boy, molded by his conservative, Cuban senator father. Edgartown is a town literally divided—the Liberal East and the Conservative North coexisting as neighbors but rarely as friends. But what happens when the two sides meet in the least likely of places: a local bookstore?

When employees at Annabelle's favorite literary haven decide to unionize, she finds her path unexpectedly crossing with Gabe's. And then they're tossed together weekly as they get special training help for their beloved cross-country competitions. With their worlds thrown into disarray, the two high schoolers must navigate their complex feelings for each other while wrestling with their polarized upbringings. Can love bloom in the crossfire of political discord?

“Running Mates” is not just a heartwarming coming-of-age tale. It's a deep dive into the complexities of ideological divide, a vivid portrayal of modern youth activism, and a rallying cry for empathy. As Annabelle and Gabe discover the gray areas in a world seemingly divided into black & white and red & blue, they learn that both politics and love require courage, compromise, and a touch of rebellion.

Engaging, timely, funny, and at times poignant, “Running Mates” serves as a mirror to our times, daring us to question, to feel, to laugh, and above all, to love despite our differences.

 

Emily Locker spent most of fourth grade persuading her friends to reenact scenes from Sweet Valley High. She was raised in Washington, D.C., by two psychotherapists, who often caught her reading well past midnight and who inspired her early interest in the human psyche and relationship dynamics. Emily moved to New York City after graduating from the University of Rochester to complete a Social Work graduate program at New York University. Her first job was at The World Trade Center Program, where she provided individual and group psychotherapy to first responders. She recently returned to Washington, D.C., where she lives with her husband and two young sons. When Emily is not writing or chasing after her "lively" boys, she works as a therapist in private practice. Running Mates is her first novel.

Alison Bowen is an award-winning Chicago journalist. As a longtime Chicago Tribune features writer, her work covered topics including books, family and health. Her reporting has appeared in publications including the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and Chicago magazine.

AUTHOR JODI SOLOVY AT LAKE FOREST BOOK STORE

We welcome author Jodi Solovy as she presents her book:

MIDLIFE MISCHIEF

Wednesday, April 17th, 2024, 6PM-7PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

In her debut novel, author Jodi Solovy weaves a heartwarming and ultimately empowering tale about first love, marriage, family, friendship and choices. The story begins on an ordinary Monday afternoon in the life of 53-year-old Jen Mann, as she’s sitting with her lifelong best friend Cate at the local coffee shop, where they meet weekly for the comfort of a warm drink and quality time together. But on this particular Monday, Jen is distracted, unable to shake the malaise of being middle-aged and irrelevant, having almost adult children who no longer need her and a husband who seems to have grown bored with her.

Then, from out of the blue, she receives a message from the great love of her life, her Italian boyfriend Luca from 30 years ago, who happens to be in town. Jen’s boring and routine existence is thrown into a tailspin as she becomes consumed by memories of her whirlwind year abroad with Luca and the prospect of seeing him again after all these years. When her past love and current life collide, Jen must decide which one she is willing to fight for and what she must learn to reclaim the life she wants to live.

Midlife Mischief takes the reader along on the journey of one mother’s hilarious and heartbreaking midlife crisis. It’ll make you laugh, and it’ll make you cry. Simply put, this book is a love letter to middle age and a celebration of women of all ages.

 

Midlife Mischief is Jodi Solovy's debut novel. She has always been a passionate writer, first as a lawyer and most recently as a blogger posting personal vignettes on her Substack, Jodi's Jaunts. She has three grown children and lives with her husband in the northern suburbs of Chicago. When she's not writing, reading or in a pool, she's trying to train her rambunctious puppy.

AUTHOR KATHLEEN ROONEY AT LAKE FOREST BOOK STORE

We welcome author Kathleen Rooney as she presents her book:

FROM DUST TO STARDUST

Lake Unit Publishing, $28.99 September 5th, 2023

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

From the bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk comes a novel about Hollywood, the cost of stardom, and selfless second acts, inspired by an extraordinary true story.

Chicago, 1916. Doreen O’Dare is fourteen years old when she hops a Hollywood-bound train with her beloved Irish grandmother. Within a decade, her trademark bob and insouciant charm make her the preeminent movie flapper of the Jazz Age. But her success story masks one of relentless ambition, tragedy, and the secrets of a dangerous marriage.

Her professional life in flux, Doreen trades one dream for another. She pours her wealth and creative energy into a singular achievement: the construction of a one-ton miniature Fairy Castle, the likes of which the world has never seen. So begins Doreen’s public tour to lift the nation’s spirits during the Great Depression—and a personal journey worth remembering.

A sweeping journey from the dawn of the motion picture era through turbulent twentieth-century America, From Dust to Stardust is a breathtaking novel about one determined woman navigating change, challenging the price of fame, and sharing the gift of real magic.

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, a nonprofit publisher of literary work in hybrid genres, as well as a founding member of Poems While You Wait, a collective of poets and their vintage typewriters who compose poetry on demand. Her most recent books include the novels Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey. Her poetry collection Where Are the Snows won the 2021 X. J. Kennedy Prize and was published by Texas Review Press in fall of 2022. She is a winner of the Ruth Lilly Prize from Poetry magazine and the Adam Morgan Literary Citizen Award from the Chicago Review of Books, and her criticism appears in the New York Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Brooklyn RailChicago magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay, and teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University.

AUTHOR ROWAN BEAIRD AT LAKE FOREST BOOKSTORE

We welcome author Rowan Beaird as she presents her book:

DIVORCEES 

Flat Iron Books $28.99 March 19th, 2024

Wednesday, April 10th, 2024, 6PM-7PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

A "delicious" (Rebecca Makkai) and "deeply compelling" (Lauren Groff) debut novel set at a 1950s Reno "divorce ranch," about the complex friendship between two women who dare to imagine a different future

Lois Saunders thought that marrying the right man would finally cure her loneliness. But as picture-perfect as her husband is, she is suffocating in their loveless marriage. In 1951, though, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce—except in Reno, Nevada.

At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno’s famous “divorce ranches,” Lois finds herself living with half a dozen other would-be divorcees, all in Reno for the six weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. They spend their days riding horses and their nights flirting with cowboys, and it’s as wild and fun as Lake Forest, Illinois, is prim and stifling. But it isn’t until Greer Lang arrives that Lois’s world truly cracks open. Gorgeous, beguiling, and completely indifferent to societal convention, Greer is unlike anyone Lois has ever met—and she sees something in Lois that no one else ever has. Under her influence, Lois begins to push against the limits that have always restrained her. But how far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms?

Set in the glamorous, dizzying world of 1950s Reno, where housewives and movie stars rubbed shoulders at gin-soaked casinos, The Divorcees is a riveting page-turner and a dazzling exploration of female friendship, desire, and freedom.

Rowan Beaird is a fiction writer whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Kenyon ReviewThe Southern Review, and The Common, among others. She is the recipient of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart. She has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and StoryStudio, and she currently works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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