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Author Talk | Robert Gwaltney

Join award-winning author Robert Gwaltney in conversation with author Kimberly Brock to discuss Gwaltney's Southern fiction novel, "The Cicada Tree."

When an eleven year old, whisky drinking, piano prodigy who encounters a wealthy family possessing supernatural beauty, her ensuing obsession unleashes family secrets and a cataclysmic plague of cicadas.

The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence, Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed.

During a visit to Mistletoe, a plantation owned by the wealthy Mayfield family, Analeise encounters Cordelia Mayfield and her daughter Marlissa, both of whom possess an otherworldly beauty, a lineal trait regarded as that Mayfield Shine. A whisper and an act of violence perpetrated during this visit by Mrs. Mayfield all converge to kindle Analeise’s fascination with the Mayfields.
Analeise’s burgeoning obsession with the Mayfield family overshadows her own seemingly, ordinary life, culminating in dangerous games and manipulation, setting off a chain of cataclysmic events with life-altering consequences—all of it unfolding to the maddening whir of a cicada song.

Books will be available for sale and signing by The Book Bird of Avondale Estates.

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Robert Gwaltney, 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel, is a writer of Southern fiction. He resides in Atlanta Georgia where he is an active member of the Atlanta literary community. By day, he serves as Vice President of Easter Seals North Georgia, Inc., Children Services, a nonprofit supporting children with disabilities and other special needs. Robert’s work has appeared in such publications as The Southern Literary Review, The Blue Mountain Review, The Signal Mountain Review, and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Robert also is a contributing writer for Well Read Magazine and podcast host of Inside Voices. His debut novel, The Cicada Tree, was awarded the Somerset Award for literary fiction.

Kimberly Brock will be moderating the talk. She is the bestselling author of The Fabled Earth, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, and The River Witch, which was honored with the Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2013, by the Georgia Writers Association. A former actor and special needs educator, Kimberly received her bachelor’s degree from the University of West Georgia in 1996. In 2014, Kimberly founded Tinderbox Writer’s Workshop, a transformative creative experience for women in the arts. Kimberly has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national groups, including The Women’s Fiction Writer’s annual conference and The Pat Conroy Literary Center. A native of North Georgia, she now lives near Atlanta, Georgia.

Presented by Adult Services.

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