Lauren Willig

Lauren Willig That Summer Sunday, July 27th 1:00-3:00

That Summer By Lauren Willig Julia Conley, drifting without purpose after losing her job in New York City finance, finds herself on an unexpected journey when she inherits an old house just outside London from a great-aunt she barely remembers. Prepping the house for sale, she unearths a mysterious painting with ties to a sordid affair 150 years in her family’s past. Julia finds a possible love interest — or possible rip-off artist — in a dashing antiques dealer who can help her investigate the possibly valuable painting. As the past and present unfold against each other in the narrative — think of A. S. Byatt’s “Possession,” with art — we learn that Julia’s ancestor Imogen Grantham lived a sad, cloistered life in the house, married to a distant man and stifled in her intellectual pursuits until her husband hired an artist, Gavin Thorne, to paint her portrait. She embarked on an affair with Gavin, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who may figure in Julia’s family tree more than she thought. The clues, strewn throughout the house — how did Gavin’s second painting of Imogen end up in a secret panel in a wardrobe? — make for an involving mystery whose art-world implications imbue the romantic indulgences with an intellectual glow.

Location: Street: 306 Pearl Parkway Additional: Suite 106 City: San Antonio, Province: Texas Postal Code: 78215 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Lauren Willig (left) will sign and discuss her new stand-alone novel, That Summer (St. Martin's Press; $25.99).

Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages, awarded the RITA, Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards, and chosen for the American Library Association's annual list of the best genre fiction. After graduating from Yale University, she embarked on a PhD in English History at Harvard before leaving academia to acquire a JD at Harvard Law while authoring her "Pink Carnation" series of Napoleonic-set novels. She lives in New York City, where she now writes full time.

Beatriz Williams (center) with sign and discuss her new stand-alone novel, The Secret Life of Violet Grant (Putnam; $26.95).

A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a corporate and communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons.

She now lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry.

Susan Elia MacNeal (right) will sign and discuss The Prime Minister's secret agent (Bantam $15), the latest in her Edgar Nominated Maggie Hope series.

Susan Elia MacNeal is the Barry Award–winning and Edgar, Dilys, and Macavity Award–nominated author of the Maggie Hope mysteries, including Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, and His Majesty’s Hope. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and child.

Location: Street: 2342 Bissonnet St Additional: City: Houston, Province: Texas Postal Code: 77005 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The Romance Writers of America are meeting in Anaheim for their annual gathering in 2012, which provides the opportunity for passionate readers to meet and greet a panel at the Cerritos Library. Alma Katsu (The Reckoning) will moderate a discussion of “Romance Crosses All Boundaries,” encompassing the historical and contemporary and paranormal diversity of the represented sub-genres. Readers can show their love for panelists including: Lauren Willig (The Garden Intrigue); Sarah Maclean (A Rogue By Any Other Name); Lori Wilde (Kiss the Bride); and Pamela Palmer (A Blood Seduction).

Location: Street: 18025 Bloomfield Avenue City: Cerritos, Province: California Postal Code: 90703 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

In the ninth installment of Lauren Willig's bestselling Pink Carnation series, an atrocious poet teams up with an American widow to prevent Napoleon's invasion of England.

Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can't bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.

New York-born Emma Morris Delagardie is a thorn in Augustus's side. An old school friend of Napoleon's stepdaughter, she came to France with her uncle, the American envoy; eloped with a Frenchman; and has been rattling around the salons of Paris ever since. Widowed for four years, she entertains herself by drinking too much champagne, holding a weekly salon, and loudly critiquing Augustus's poetry.

As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, Whittlesby hears of a top-secret device to be demonstrated at a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is with Emma, who has been asked to write a masque for the weekend's entertainment.

Emma is at a crossroads: Should she return to the States or remain in France? She'll do anything to postpone the decision-even if it means teaming up with that silly poet Whittlesby to write a masque for Bonaparte's house party. But each soon learns that surface appearances are misleading. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing goes quite as scripted- especially Augustus's feelings for Emma.

Location: Street: 57th Street Books Additional: 1301 E. 57th Street City: Chicago, Province: Illinois Postal Code: 60637-1507 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Lauren Willig on tour for The Garden Intrigue.

Lauren Willig, the New York Times bestselling author of the Pink Carnation series will appear at Georgia Gwinnett College for a book discussion and signing. Wednesday, February 15, 2012 6:00 pm Author Reception 7:00 pm Book Discussion To be held in the Student Center - LVIS room. Fans are invited to celebrate the release of Willig's ninth book in the series, The Garden Intrigue, available in stores February 16th. Books in the Pink Carnation series will be available for signing and purchase. (uploadperson)… (more)

Lauren Willig signs The Orchid Affair.

In The Orchid Affair, Willig introduces Laura Grey, a veteran governess, who joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura's mission is to report any suspicious findings. At first the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behavior from Jaouen-secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges herself closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought... As their plots begin to unravel, Laura and Jaouen are forced on the run with the children, and with the help of the Pink Carnation they escape to the countryside, traveling as husband and wife. But Delaroche will stop at nothing to take down his nemesis. With his men hot on their trail, can Laura and Jaouen seal the fate of Europe before it's too late? Lauren Willig is the bestselling author of seven previous Pink Carnation novels. She received a graduate degree in English history from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. (aripoisonedpen)… (more)