Katrina Kittle in conversation with Jessica Strawser discussing and signing Morning in This Broken World

Tuesday, September 12 at 7pm ET 

Location: Joseph-Beth Cincinnati 

Join us for Katrina Kittle in conversation with Jessica Strawser discussing and signing Morning in This Broken World. Optional RSVP is below, but not required to attend this event.

From the bestselling author of The Kindness of Strangers comes a poignant and life-affirming novel about our connections to the past, and the promise for the future during the least promising of times.

Grieving but feisty widow Vivian Laurent is at a late-in-life crossroads. The man she loved is gone. Their only daughter is estranged and missing. And the assisted-living facility where her husband died is going into quarantine. Living in lockdown with only heartache and memories is something Vivian can’t bear. Then comes a saving grace.

Luna, a compassionate nursing assistant and newly separated mother, is facing eviction. Vivian has a plan that could turn their lives around: return to her old home and invite Luna and her two children to move in with her. With the exuberant eleven-year-old Wren in her hot-pink motorized wheelchair and Wren’s troubled older brother, Cooper, the new housemates make for an unlikely pandemic pack, weathering the coming storm together.

Now it’s time to heal old wounds, make peace with the past, find hope and joy, and discover that the strongest bonds can get anyone through the worst of times.

Katrina Kittle is the author of four books for adults—Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, The Kindness of Strangers, and The Blessings of the Animals— and one novel for tweens, Reasons to Be Happy. Her new novel Morning in This Broken World is forthcoming in September 2023. Katrina teaches creative writing workshops for all ages, focusing on craft and motivation (and is especially good at jumpstarting stalled writers). She teaches online and in the Dayton-Cincinnati-Columbus area through Word’s Worth Writing Connections, and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. Katrina lives near Dayton with her fella, her tiny rescue cat Annie, her sweet beagle Serena, and her out-of-control garden. She has a thing for goats, gardening, and going barefoot; and is addicted to coffee, pedicures, and Indian food. She is always at work on another novel.  

Jessica Strawser is the editor-at-large and columnist at Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade and became known for her in-depth cover interviews with such luminaries as David Sedaris and Alice Walker. She’s the author of the book club favorites Almost Missed You, a Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction pick; Not That I Could Tell, a Book of the Month bestseller; Forget You Know Me, awarded a starred review by Publishers Weekly, and A Million Reasons Why, called “a standout” in a starred Booklist review and named to Most Anticipated lists from Goodreads, SheReads, Frolic, E! News & others. Her latest, The Next Thing You Know, is a People Magazine Pick for Best New Novel (new in paperback March 2023). Her sixth novel, The Last Caretaker, is forthcoming in November 2023.