Book club members and lovers of reading, we hope you will join us in a summer reading challenge by delving into one or more of the books of local author Sheila Myers.
Myers will be the featured author of the 21st annual Book Lovers Ball, planned for Friday, Oct. 3 at Treleaven Winery. Myers will give a talk at 2 pm Sunday, Oct. 5 at Aurora Free Library. The talk is free, open to the public, and includes refreshments. She will discuss her most recent book, “The Truth of Who You Are,” as well as the books in her Durant family trilogy.
“The Truth of Who You Are,” set during the Great Depression, was published by Black Rose Writing in April 2022. “The Truth of Who You Are” is about Ben Taylor – when his family is plunged into poverty, Taylor takes a job with the US Civilian Conservation Corps developing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A tragic accident puts him in a dilemma that follows him all the way to the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Inspired by actual events and the people who once lived in the Smoky Mountains before it became a National Park, this saga explores how people use stories to hide uncomfortable truths. “The Truth of Who You Are” received favorable reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Goodreads.
Myers’ trilogy is a fictionalized account of the family of the robber baron Dr. Thomas C. Durant, who was vice president of the Union Pacific railroad, among other ventures. Myers was inspired to write the series after a trip to one of the Great Camps built by Durant’s son William, in the Adirondack wilderness. The books include “Imaginary Brightness” (2015), “Castles in the Air” (2016), and “The Night is Done” (2017). “The Night is Done” won the 2017 Best Book of Fiction Literary Award from the Adirondack Center for Writing.
Myers has been a professor of ecology at universities in the Finger Lakes region and is currently employed by Cayuga Community College. She has been published in Adirondack Life Magazine, The Appalachian Club Magazine, and the History News Network. She has been a guest on the History Channel.
Myers says she likes to venture out into the wilderness, swim in lakes, climb mountains, and make the occasional trip to a cemetery to find inspiration. Human failures and passions are always good starting points for a plot and there is plenty of that to go around, Myers said.
For more information about Myers and her books, visit: https://www.sheilamyers.com
The Book Lovers Ball is a fundraiser for the Aurora Free Library. Tickets go on sale this summer. For more information, visit: www.bookloversball.com
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