Third Place Books presents Deborah Reed, in conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Deborah Reed, in conversation with Jennie Shortridge - Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan Friday, October 16, 2020 - 7:00pm

This is a virtual event, taking place via Zoom Webinar! Register for this livestream event here!

The story of a famous abstract painter at the end of her life— her family, her art, and the long-buried secrets that won't stay hidden for much longer.

Ninety-three-year-old Violet Swan has spent a lifetime translating tragedy and hardship into art, becoming famous for her abstract paintings, which evoke tranquility, innocence, and joy. For nearly a century Violet has lived a peaceful, private life of painting on the coast of Oregon.

The "business of Violet" is run by her only child, Francisco, and his wife, Penny. But shortly before Violet's death, an earthquake sets a series of events in motion, and her deeply hidden past begins to resurface. When her beloved grandson returns home with a family secret in tow, Violet is forced to come to terms with the life she left behind so long ago-- a life her family knows nothing about.

A generational saga set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America and into the present day, Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan is the story of a girl who escaped rural Georgia at fourteen during World War II, crossing the country alone and broke. It is the story of how that girl met the man who would become her devoted husband, how she became a celebrated artist, and above all, how her life, inspired by nothing more than the way she imagined it to be, would turn out to be her greatest masterpiece.

Deborah Reed is the author of the novels Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan, The Days When Birds Come Back, Olivay, Things We Set on Fire, and Carry Yourself Back to Me. She has written two thrillers under the pen name Audrey Braun. She lives on the coast of Oregon and is the owner of Cloud and Leaf, an independent bookstore in Manzanita, Oregon.

Jennie Shortridge is the author of five novels, including Love Water Memory and When She Flew, and is currently working on a memoir. Her books have been translated into several languages, optioned for film and TV, and selected as American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next picks and Library Journal’s Editors’ Picks. A lifelong volunteer, she was the co-founder and executive director of Seattle7Writers, a nonprofit collective of over one hundred Northwest authors who raised money and awareness for literature and literacy from 2009 to 2019. 

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan: A Novel of a Life in Art (Paperback)
By Deborah Reed
$15.99
ISBN: 9780544817364
Availability: On our shelves now at one or more of our stores
Published: Mariner Books - October 6th, 2020