Name: Writers at the Wrecking Bar Presents Sheri Joseph - Angels at the Gate
Start: 2025-12-02T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Wrecking Bar Brewpub

Writers at the Wrecking Bar Presents Sheri Joseph - Angels at the Gate

Sheri Joseph’s mesmerizing "Angels at the Gate" is more than a campus novel, more than a mystery, more than a reflection on memory. It’s a deeply-felt story of a young student, Leah, and her friends and classmates, as they begin to create the person they will become, and the choices they make that forever remind them of what they left behind. It’s heartbreaking, joyful, and utterly unforgettable.—Kevin Wilson, author of "Nothing to See Here" and "The Family Fang"
At the September edition of Writers at the Wrecking Bar, A Cappella Books welcomes acclaimed author Sheri Joseph to celebrate the release of her latest book, “Angels at the Gate.” The author will appear in conversation with fellow Atlanta novelist Susan Rebecca White.
This event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase.
About the Book
At remote Rockhaven University, the shocking death of student Brantley Simms beneath the bell tower shatters the campus, a place that once felt safeguarded by local angels. A year later, Leah Gavin, who knew Brantley under strained circumstances, becomes study partners with his former roommate from a rival fraternity and begins to unravel the mystery surrounding Brantley’s death.
Her questions lead her back to Brantley’s fraternity and her own closest friends, and from there into secret societies and the darker side of her beloved college. As Leah develops feelings for one boy, she finds herself entangled in a complicated relationship with another, who harbors his own suspicions about the tragedy. Caught between two people she cares for—three if she includes the one who is gone—Leah must confront the unsettling truths she discovers while continuing to navigate her own precarious life as a student.
"Angels at the Gate" offers a poignant exploration of college life to the beat of a 1980s mixtape, set in an unusually insular environment permeated by misogyny and sexual repression.
About the Author
Sheri Joseph is the author of the novels "Where You Can Find Me" and "Stray," as well as "Bear Me Safely Over," a cycle of stories. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the Grub Street National Book Prize in fiction, as well as numerous residency fellowships including MacDowell and Yaddo. She lives in Atlanta, where she teaches in the creative writing program at Georgia State University.
About the Conversation Partner
Susan Rebecca White is the author of four critically acclaimed novels, "Bound South," "A Soft Place to Land," "We Are All Good People Here," and "A Place at the Table." A graduate of Brown University and the MFA program at Hollins University, Susan has taught creative writing at Hollins, Emory, SCAD, and Mercer University, where she was the Ferrol A. Sams, Jr. Distinguished Chair of English Writer-in-Residence. An Atlanta native, Susan lives in Atlanta with her husband and son.
About Writers at the Wrecking Bar
A Cappella Books presents Writers at the Wrecking Bar, a series of live author interview events showcasing some of the country’s freshest voices in literary and contemporary fiction. Each program includes writers in conversation with an arbiter of Atlanta’s book scene, giving the audience a chance to experience and participate in the Q&A and get a signed copy of the book. Held upstairs in the Marianna Room of the Wrecking Bar Brewpub, Writers at the Wrecking Bar hosts a cash bar, starting at 7 PM.