Mon 3/13 11AM: Books & Bites

Virginia Pye, author of the critically acclaimed debut novel River of Dust, will speak on her latest novel Dreams of the Red Phoenix.  Taking her own grandmother’s life as an inspiration, Pye writes in Dreams of the Red Phoenix of Americans in China on the cusp of World War II.  The novel takes place during the dangerous summer of 1937, as newly widowed American missionary Shirley Carson finds herself and her teenage son caught up in the midst of a Japanese invasion of North China and the simultaneous rise of Communism.  A Red Army officer requests her help.  Shirley must navigate between her desire to help the Chinese Communists fight the Japanese by serving as a nurse and the need to save both herself and her son by escaping the war-ravaged country before it’s too late.

Dreams of the Red Phoenix was called ‘Riveting!’ by Library Journal and ‘Superb historical fiction,’ by Historical Novels Review.  Author Gish Jen wrote:  ‘Gripping, convincing, and heartbreaking, Dreams of the Red Phoenix is a real page-turner and thought-provoker–wonderful.’

Virginia Pye is the daughter of the late Lucian W. Pye, a political science professor at MIT and one of America’s leading China scholars.  She grew up in Belmont.  She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and has taught writing at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as in high schools, an AIDS hospice, and private workshops.

   All are welcome to attend this free program, sponsored by the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.  Refreshments will be provided.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.  The Assembly Room is handicapped accessible.