Dian Greenwood with Leslie Johansen Nack — 'Forever Blackbirds'

Third Place Books is delighted to welcome back Dian Greenwood to our Lake Forest Park store! Greenwood will be discussing her new historical novel, , alongside Leslie Johansen Nack. This event is free and open to the public.

For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

Click here for more about our COVID-19 policies for in-person events.

Having trouble registering? See Eventbrite's troubleshooting FAQ here.

This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.

Forever Blackbirds depicts the story of the women waited out World War II at home, who faced the daily threat of death and received the telegrams no wanted to receive. Told in dual timelines, the novel captures the immigrant experience in abbreviated segments from 1914 that portray a 14-year-old girl’s life with her once-prosperous Odessa, Russia, desperate to escape the Bolsheviks. Loosely based on the history of the author’s maternal grandmother, the narrative opens in 1943. Marta Gottlieb, a German Russian immigrant now in her mid-40s, lives with her family in Myra, North Dakota, a fictionalized evangelical community. During her departure from Ellis Island, Marta suffers disfiguring facial scars in a fall at Battery Park. Grateful to have anyone marry her, Marta settles into what becomes a loveless union that produces four children. Throughout the novel, Marta struggles with her role as a dutiful Christian wife while resisting the changes she witnesses in her two adult and very modern daughters. Death becomes the conveyor belt that delivers Marta into the modern era and causes her to question her religious beliefs and discover her own agency. Hints of Willa Cather and her famous novels that depicted the Plains states permeate the story.

Though Dian Greenwood started her life in the Dakotas, she has been a West Coaster since adolescence. She studied both writing and counseling psychology in San Francisco. An early focus on poetry led her to fiction, and she has published personal essays in The Big Smoke, a weekly online magazine. About the Carleton Sisters is her debut novel. She writes and works as a family therapist in Portland, Oregon. You can find Dian on her website, DianGreenwood.com.
Leslie Johansen Nack’s debut novel, The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies has won two awards including 2022 CIBA Finalist for Goethe Late Historical Fiction. Her debut memoir, Fourteen, A Daughter’s Memoir, received five indie awards, including the 2016 Finalist in Memoir at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Before she started writing, she raised two children, ran a mechanical engineering business with her husband, took care of her aging mother, and dreamed of retirement when she could write full-time. She did everything late in life, including getting her degree in English Literature from UCLA. She lives in San Diego and enjoys sailing, hiking and reading. Please visit her website www.lesliejohansennack.com and sign up for her newsletter.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE #A101, Lake Forest Park, United States