Sunday, March 11, 2012

An Intimate Evening with Jacqueline Winspear

Broadway Books is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting award-winning author Jacqueline Winspear, author of the bestselling Maisie Dobbs series, on Wednesday, April 11, at 7 pm. A limited number of tickets will be sold to this Intimate Evening with Jacqueline Winspear. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, March 12.

Tickets will be sold for $25.99, and each ticket-buyer will receive a copy of Ms. Winspear's newest hardcover book in the series, Elegy for Eddie (which is priced at $25.99, so essentially the evening is free). You can buy tickets to this event at our website, over the phone (503-284-1726), or at the store. If you purchase through the website, be sure to purchase the event ticket only, and not the copy of Elegy for Eddie. You can also purchase the other books in the Maisie Dobbs series through the site or in person.

The Maisie Dobbs series is one of the most popular series we sell at Broadway Books. The books are set in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with the roots of each story set in the Great War, 1914-1918.

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London's Institute of Education, she worked in academic publishing, in higher education, and in marketing communications in the UK. Ms. Winspear moved to the Bay Area in 1990, eventually embarking on her life-long dream to be a writer.

Ms. Winspear's grandfather was severely wounded and shell-shocked at The Battle of the Somme in 1916, and it was as she understood the extent of his suffering that, even in childhood, she became deeply interested in the "war to end all wars" and its aftereffects.

"As I grew up my curiosity about the “war to end all wars” deepened, so that I always seemed to be reading something about the war. However, my interest was not in the politics of the time so much as rooted in the experiences of ordinary men and women, boys and girls, not only on the battlefield, but on the home front."

"My research is ongoing. Books and records from and about the period are the mainstay of my personal library. I also read memoirs and fiction from the period, mainly to enhance my sense of language, of societal mores, etc. In addition, I do a considerable amount of primary research, which includes, for example, consulting the archives at the Imperial War Museum in London, walking the streets where I am setting scenes and then comparing what I can see and feel today with old photos and accounts of life at the time. I've been to France and Belgium several times to visit the Great War battlefields -- and each visit was a profound experience."

In Elegy for Eddie, the latest Maisie Dobbs installment (the ninth in the series), Maisie sets out to investigate the death of an extraordinary man who had lived in the south London neighborhood where she grew up. Maisie's search for answers begins in the working-class streets of Lambeth—where Eddie lived, and where she grew up—but quickly leads her to a callous press baron, a "has been" politician named Winston Churchill lingering in the hinterlands of power and, most surprisingly, to Douglas Partridge, the husband of her dearest friend, Priscilla. As Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must decide whether to risk all to see justice done.

Because of the limited number of attendees at this event, you will be able to interact with the author and ask her questions about what led to the writing of the series, how she develops her plots and her characters, what authors she admires, where she sees Maisie going, and what other writing plans she might have -- or whatever other path you choose to explore with the author.

Jacqueline Winspear is a wonderful author and a truly delightful person, so this evening will be a special treat for all fortunate enough to attend. We expect the evening to sell put quickly, so please don't delay getting your tickets.

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