You are hereRichard Russo discusses That Old Cape Magic

Richard Russo discusses That Old Cape Magic

Start: Tue, 06/08/2010 - 6:30pm

End: Tue, 06/08/2010 - 8:00pm

Richard Russo discusses his bestselling new novel That Old Cape Magic

Time: Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 6:30 PM
Location: Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum, Kansas City, Missouri 64112
Phone: 913-384-3126 to order books in advance, 816-701-3407 to make reservations to attend.

Author: Richard Russo is the author of seven novels, a collection of short stories, and numerous screenplays. He won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls.

Title: That Old Cape Magic, $15.00 Trade Paperback, ISBN 9781400030910, On Sale Date: June 1, 2010

Following Bridge of Sighs, a national bestseller hailed by The Boston Globe as "an astounding achievement" and "a masterpiece" Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth. Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father's ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura's best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents' respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, in the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that's now thirty years old and has largely come true. He'd left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they'd moved into an old house full of character; and they'd started a family. Check, check and check.

But be careful what you pray for, especially if you manage to achieve it. By the end of this perfectly lovely weekend, the past has so thoroughly swamped the present that the future suddenly hangs in the balance. And when, a year later, a far more important wedding takes place, their beloved Laura's, on the coast of Maine, Griffin's chauffeuring two urns of ashes as he contends once more with Joy and her large, unruly family, and both he and she have brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?

That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter's new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding and heart-stopping sadness, and its ending is at once surprising, uplifting and unlike anything this Pulitzer Prize-winner has ever written.

What: Richard Russo will discuss his brilliant new work and career, and answer audience questions. A limited number of pre-autographed copies of That Old Cape Magic will be available for purchase from Rainy Day Books, on our website and / or at our Author Event.

When: Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 6:30 PM

Where: A Rainy Day Books Author Event at The Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum, 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112

Admission Package: This Event is Open to the general public. Call The Kansas City Public Library at 816-701-3407 to make your reservations to attend. Call Rainy Day Books at 913-384-3126 to Order your Author Autographed Books. Rainy Day Books will have Richard Russo's present and past Books available for sale at our Author Event.

All Author Event Book Sales are Final and Non-Returnable.

Location:

Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum
4801 Main Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64112