Julie Gerstenblatt presents "Daughters of Nantucket"

82 Central Street,Wellesley MA 02482

16 March, 2023

Description

If you would prefer to buy your ticket by phone, you may call Wellesley Books at 781-431-1160. Please note that you must purchase your copy of the book from Wellesley Books in order to have the author sign it at the event. Books will be available for purchase at the event. COVID Protocols • Attendees are not required to wear masks, however they are encouraged ABOUT THE BOOK "Julie Gerstenblatt brings a 19th-century New England coastal town to life in this dramatic, meticulously researched, beautifully paced novel. A moving story of hope, loss, perseverance, and survival.” —Christina Baker Kline, author Centered around Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, the story follows Eliza, Meg and Maria: three very different women whose lives intersect as they fight to survive the blaze and overcome their own personal struggles. Whaling captain wife Eliza Macy is waiting for her husband to return from a long voyage — while simultaneously hiding her financial trouble-when, in desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant, free Black woman trying to relocate her store to the town’s Main Street. Meanwhile, Maria Mitchell spends every night observing the stars as she runs Nantucket’s Atheneum, but is hiding her own secrets of the heart. At the time, women experienced an unusual independence for the 1800s as the island’s men went out to sea, sometimes for years. Daughters of Nantucket explores how these characters both struggle with and enjoy the rare freedom they have — and how the town’s thriving Black community lives an almost-equal, yet separate existence from their Quaker neighbors. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.