Author Talk with Jennifer Dupree

This event is past.

  • May 17, 2022

Author, librarian, and freelance-editor Jennifer Dupree will be celebrating the release of her novel The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach at the Lewiston Public Library on Tuesday, May 17th at 5:30 PM. This free, public program will also include a book sale and signing.

The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach is a novel about what it means to be a “good” mother, and who gets to decide. What happens when a 19-year-old girl, alone and exhausted, follows a fleeting impulse and tosses her screaming infant son out a window? What happens if that baby is caught by a woman who—standing below—looks up and reaches out? And what if the catcher’s own fragile pregnancy ends, causing her to believe that the baby she caught is meant to be hers?

The novel is told from alternating points of view of the three main characters: young mother Sophia Leach, baby-catcher Rose Rankin, and Rose’s husband, Hank, who feels like a suited-up coach standing on the sidelines. While Rose dives head-on into pursuing custody of Owen Leach, she neglects her own two-year-old son and her marriage. Hank—desperate to be needed—and Sophia—drawn to the idea of family stability—get dangerously close.

How far will Rose go to get custody if Sophia refuses to hand over her son? What will be the cost to Hank and Rose’s marriage? How does a desperate mother gain control in an uncontrollable world?

Jen Dupree is a librarian, freelance editor, and former bookstore owner. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. Her work has appeared in Front Porch Review, The Masters Review, On the Rusk and other places. She is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Fiction Contest for 2017, and both a winner and a finalist for Maine Literary Awards. She lives in Maine with her husband and Portuguese Water Dog, (Pink) Floyd.

In addition to reading from and discussing her novel, Dupree will share her thoughts on the writing process, from beginning new projects through the process of revision. Copies of her book will be available for sale at the event and a book signing will follow her talk.

For more information, contact the LPL Adult & Teen Services desk at 513-3135 or LPLReference@lewistonmaine.gov.