Romantic mystery novelist comes to City lights

Leanna Sain of Henderson County will introduce readers to her two romantic mystery novels, The Gate to Nowhere and Return to Nowhere, at 2 p.m. Nov. 7 at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Both books feature history as well as romance and mystery, and both are set in the Western North Carolina mountains.

In Gate to Nowhere, freelance artist Emma Franklin inherits a farm in the fictional town of MacKinlay, North Carolina, and stumbles upon a mystery involving the town’s 19th-century namesake, a man despised and scorned by everyone she meets. She discovers she’s actually the man’s descendent. The book was named 2008 Fiction Book of the Year by ForeWord magazine.

The second book in the series, Return to Nowhere, is set in 1849 and the only way Charlotte MacKinlay (Emma and Gavin’s daughter) can achieve her dream of being a doctor is through Cherokee “green medicine,” but the Cherokee have all been sent West on the Trail of Tears. So who will be her teacher? Traveling back in time is her only answer.

Sain will read selections from both books, take questions, and autograph copies. Light refreshments will be served. For more information call City Lights at 828.586.9499.

Ivey to read at Osondu Booksellers

Osondu Booksellers will host George Ivey who has just published Up River: A Novel of Attempted Restoration from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

Born, raised, and again living in Western North Carolina, George Ivey has spent more than eighteen years protecting rivers, farmland, and other natural resources in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and elsewhere. He has spent eight of those years in Haywood County helping protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as local farmland. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, including Nature Conservancy, Iceland Review, and Smoky Mountain News. Up River is his first novel.

Copies of the book are available at both Osondu Booksellers and Blue Ridge Books in downtown Waynesville.

For more information, go to www.georgeivey.com/upriver.