On Wednesday, July 17 at 7pm, The New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard visits The Music Hall Lounge with her newest book, HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN. Get ready to dive into this eagerly anticipated follow-up to Count the Ways – a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.
The 7pm event includes an author conversation with Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls, and an audience Q&A, and is followed by a post-show meet-and-greet. It will be held at The Music Hall Lounge at 131 Congress St., Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her beloved novel Count the Ways—a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.
Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.
How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Joyce Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call “home.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joyce Maynard is the author of twelve previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column, “Domestic Affairs.” Her bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into sixteen languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR:
Richard Russo is the author of nine novels, two collections of stories, and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, like Nobody’s Fool, won multiple awards for its screen adaptation, and in 2023 his novel Straight Man was adapted into the television series Lucky Hank. In 2017, he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in Portland, Maine.
TICKETS
The ticket package for Literary in the Lounge: Joyce Maynard with HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN on Wednesday, July 17, at 7pm is $47. The ticket package includes a signed book (HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN, $32, hardcover), a reserved seat, an author discussion, Q+A, and a post-show meet-and-greet. Tickets can be purchased online at TheMusicHall.org, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or in person at the B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut Street.
