Author Works: Authors Jenny Xie and Molly Lynch (online)

Summer Reading Bonanza! Free Book Giveaway!

You won't want to miss this engaging and insightful discussion between two contemporary literary fiction authors as they explore the complexities of human relationships. 

The 50 randomly selected registrants will receive a copy of a book by one of the authors. The book may be picked up at a Howard County Library branch of  your choice. Winners will be contacted by email with more details. 

Set against a swiftly evolving Oakland and the tech culture that is changing the ways we interact and relate, Holding Pattern, offers a nuanced and lightly satirical look at start-ups, influencers, and the boom-and-bustcycles of Silicon Valley enthusiasms.

Fates and Furies meets Melancholia in The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman, an ominous and absorbing debut novel about marriage and motherhood in a time of ecological collapse, as mothers around the world begin to mysteriously vanish from their homes.

Holding Pattern, is a tender and playful first novel about mother-daughter relationships, Asian American identity, and the ways in which we learn to hold each other. With wit, charm, and emotional precision, Xie tells the story of Kathleen Cheng,who has just returned to live in her childhood home after ahumiliating breakup. In comes her mother Marissa who is no longer depressed or desperate to return to China, but now prepping for her upcoming wedding.Kathleen’s life is falling apart at the seams while Marissa’s life has been transformed by love—the love of a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur.

Jenny Xie is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. Originally from Shanghai, she graduated from UC Berkeley and earned her MFA at Johns Hopkins University. Her work has appeared inAGNI,Ninth Letter,Joyland,Narrative, and theBest of the Net Anthology. Jenny is the recipient of a Bread Loaf scholarship and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She was the executive editor of Dwell,and is a contributing writer forArchitectural Digest,andApartment Therapy.

The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman: Ada—a woman from Montreal living reluctantly in Michigan—vanishes from her bed one night while her husband Danny is asleep beside her, her young son, Gilles, in the next room. Desperate to locate Ada before Gilles understands what has happened, Danny begins a search. But the feds are already involved: across the country and around the world, mothers are vanishing from their homes.

Where did Ada go? What has she gone through? And how does the mystery relate to the forest that she seemed magnetically drawn to?

Molly Lynch grew up on the west coast of Canada and lived in Ireland as a teenager. She worked in Dublin, Cork, Manchester and Malaga before moving to Montreal to study literature. She’s spent time in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey and moved to Baltimore where she earned an MFA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. She now teaches creative writing at the University of Michigan.

This class is part of our Summer Reading Adventures series! Visit hclibrary.org/summer to learn more!

Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation with a link to join the class/event. This email will also contain the dial-in information if you wish to participate by telephone.