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Page 158 Books is thrilled to welcome authors Eva Jurczyk, Shauna Robinson and Meagan Church to dicuss their latest releases. That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk
You’re locked in the rare book library for one night with seven other students, when suddenly, the lights go out. Not everyone is going to make it out alive…
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university’s rare books library. They’re not allowed in the library after closing time, but it’s the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform—one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they’ll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?
But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out—and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer. That Night in the Library is a chilling literary mystery that transports readers to a world where secrets live in the dark, books breathe fears to life, and the only way out is to wait until morning.
The Townsend Family Recipe for Disaster by Shauna Robinson
One estranged family. One lost recipe. One last barbecue on the line. Mae is about to learn what happens when things go south…
Mae Townsend has always dreamed of her family in the South. With a long-ago rift estranging her late-father from his Black family in North Carolina, Mae grew up hearing stories of relatives that looked like her and of family traditions that Mae listened to with longing. Most notably, the annual Fourth of July barbecue, the epicenter of the Townsend family. Years later, as Mae looks at her wedding seating chart, mentally calculating all the white faces that will be staring back at her as she prepares to marry her perfect, saltine-cracker of a fiancé, not knowing the Townsends hits her like a blow.
So when news arrives that her grandmother has died, she decides it's time to finally explore her Black roots. With three weeks left until her wedding, Mae heads down South. What she finds is a family in turmoil, a long-standing rift still intact, a lost mac & cheese recipe causing grief, and a Townsend family barbecue on the brink of disaster. Not willing to let her dreams of family slip away, Mae steps up to save the day—mac & cheese recipe be damned—and throw a barbecue everyone will remember.
For better or for worse.
The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church
A charged novel set against the forgotten Baby Scoop Era of the 1960s following one southern girl and her fight against a system that’s determined to take her child away from her
North Carolina, 1960s. Lorraine has it all—the boyfriend, the good grades, the white picket fence, the ambition to become the first woman astronaut. But when she—the darling girl-next-door—becomes pregnant, she learns that love is conditional and ambition has its limits.
In an effort to hide their daughter’s secret shame, her parents send her away to a maternity home—a common solution for “wayward” girls during that time period. Lorraine soon realizes that instead of being a safe haven, the home forces unwed mothers to relinquish parental rights and place their babies for adoption. Lorraine must decide if she has the agency and power to fight to keep her baby or if she must submit to the rules of the society she once admired.
After receiving a degree in English with a focus on creative writing from Indiana University, MEAGAN CHURCH built a career as a storyteller and freelance writer for brands, blogs and organizations. She is the author of The Last Carolina Girl. Her fiction focuses on overlooked and oppressed women’s voices from the past. A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in North Carolina with her high school sweetheart, three children and a plethora of pets.
EVA JURCZYK is a librarian and the author of the Indie Next Pick and LibraryReads #1 Pick The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. She lives in Toronto with her family
SHAUNA ROBINSON’s love of books led her to try a career in publishing before deciding she’d rather write books instead. Originally from San Diego, California, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and their sleepy greyhound. Robinson is an introvert at heart—she spends most of her time reading, baking, and figuring out the politest way to avoid social interaction. She is the author of Must Love Books and The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks.
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