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Literary Luncheon in Davidson for Acclaimed North Carolina Author

by | Apr 4, 2018 | Local Businesses

Raleigh novelist, Elaine Neil Orr, will visit Davidson next month for an author luncheon and conversation, hosted by Main Street Books. Orr will discuss her newly published novel, “Swimming Between Worlds.” This is a ticketed event, and tickets are available for purchase through the bookstore.

The luncheon and signing will be held on May 3, from 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., at the Davidson Icehouse Restaurant on 416 South Main Street in Davidson.

Orr, the critically acclaimed author of “A Different Sun,” brings readers a Southern coming-of-age novel that sets three very different young people against the tumultuous years of the American civil rights movement.

Tacker Hart left his home in North Carolina as a local high school football hero, but he returns in disgrace after being fired from a prestigious architectural assignment in West Africa. Yet, the culture and people he grew to admire have left their mark on him. Adrift, he manages his father’s grocery store and becomes reacquainted with a girl he barely knew growing up.

Kate Monroe’s parents have died, leaving her the family home and the right connections in her Southern town. But a trove of disturbing letters sends her searching for the truth behind the comfortable life she’s been bequeathed.

On the same morning but at different moments, Tacker and Kate encounter a young African-American, Gaines Townson, and their stories converge with his. As Winston-Salem is pulled into the tumultuous 1960s, these three Americans find themselves at the center of the civil rights struggle, coming to terms with the legacies of their pasts as they search for an ennobling future.

Elaine Neil Orr is professor of English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where she teaches literature. She also serves on the faculty of the low-residency MFA in Writing program at Spalding University in Louisville. Author of novels, two scholarly books, and the memoir “Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life,” she has been a featured speaker and writer-in-residence at numerous universities and conferences and is a frequent fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She grew up in Nigeria. Visit her website to learn more about her.

And for more information about the luncheon and signing, please visit Main Street Books website.

Reviews are in for “Swimming Between Worlds“:

[SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS] will appeal to people looking for a thoughtful read touching on social as well as personal issues.”—Booklist

“Swimming Between Worlds is a perceptive and powerful story told with generosity and grace. The struggle of its deftly-drawn young characters to navigate the monumental changes—cultural and personal—that the civil rights movement brought to the South is rich and compelling.”—New York Times bestselling author Charles Frazier

“A gripping read.… The riveting plot and real-life characters would not let me go.”—Anna Jean Mayhew, author of “The Dry Grass of August”

“A smart and tender tale. I was left with admiration for Orr’s exquisite prose along with an awareness of one simple truth: sometimes it takes living in another culture to better understand your own. A beautiful book.”—Diane Chamberlain, New York Times bestselling author of “The Stolen Marriage”

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