Ladies, Lunch & Literacy Welcomes Ann Napolitano

3500 North Sepulveda Boulevard,Manhattan Beach CA 90266

11 April, 2023

Description

Ladies, Lunch, and Literacy is delighted to invite you to meet Ann Napolitano and learn about her new book, Hello Beautiful , on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Ann will have a conversation with her Literary Agent, Julie Barer, and editor-in-chief of The Dial Press, Whitney Frick. This is a lunch you do not want to miss! Join us at 11:30am PDT for an informal meet and greet with Ann and other fellow readers before our formal event begins at 12:00pm PDT sharp! About Hello Beautiful From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos. But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most? An exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women, Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving portrait of what is possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it. Ann Napolitano is the author of Dear Edward, which was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna selection, and is now an Apple TV+ series. She is also the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm’s Reach. For seven years, Napolitano was the associate editor of the literary magazine One Story, and she received an MFA from New York University. She has taught fiction writing at Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Gotham Writers Workshop. Born and raised in New York City, Julie Barer began her career as a bookseller at Shakespeare & Company, where she discovered the joy of putting books into people’s hands. Her first job in publishing was at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, and she started her own agency, Barer Literary, in 2004. In 2015 she joined forces with three other partners to form The Book Group. Julie represents a variety of writers across a literary spectrum, with a special emphasis on fiction. Julie’s clients have been finalists and winners of numerous grants and prizes, including the National Book Award, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Man Booker Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and works by several of her clients have graced the cover of The New York Times Book Review, and have appeared on national and international bestseller lists. Recent titles of hers include Sam by Allegra Goodman, Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts, Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson, The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng and Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. Whitney Frick is the editor-in-chief of The Dial Press. Throughout her career, she has focused on helping to shape, elevate, and amplify the stories of women. At Dial, Whitney has published several critically lauded and bestselling books, including the Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club selections Sam by Allegra Goodman and Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano; the New York Times bestsellers, The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban and Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker; Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club Selection and blockbuster bestseller Untamed by Glennon Doyle; and, most recently, Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. Whitney loves to read and edit expertly-reported nonfiction with a feminist message, as well as fiction and memoir characterized by strong, original voices that tell stories of self-revelation and explore the many dimensions of love and connection. Hello Beautiful is available at Creating Conversations. Please come by and pick it up before lunch so you can start reading immediately!