Sadly, the 2017-18 season of the wonderful Grimsby Author Series ended on Monday.  This is my third year participating and each evening is meticulously organized and a night to look forward to.  What could be better than an sold out event, not one but two authors, wine, snacks and door prizes?  Of all the book events that I enjoy, Grimsby hosts the largest crowd and a fabulous facilitator.  Ken Boichuk always provides a thoughtful, well-researched introduction to each author and engages the crowd with his enthusiasm for celebrating great books and the authors who write them!

Monday night began with local author, Laurie Petrou.  Originally from Markham, she has “put down roots” and is raising her family in the small, lakeside town.  Her two young boys joined many local residents to celebrate the success of Laurie’s novel, Sister of Mine.  She noted that after 12 years as ticket holder, she was thrilled to be a guest author and laughed that that unlike her experience teaching university students, she could enjoy the audience paying attention.

Aside from writing a collection of short stories, and her PhD, Sister of Mine is Laurie’s first novel which she described as a “mainstream, popular suspense novel… a thriller… a book about sisters”.  Ken introduced the book as “not a who done it but a what’s next”?  While a murder is described on the first page, the rest of the book  slowly leads the reader to understand the events leading up to the crime as well as the impact on the sisters.

Sister of Mine engages readers to ponder the strong bond of siblings, the complexity of situations and the way different individuals may have unique recall of the same event.  Readers will think about breaking points and decisions made in the face of adversity.  At the time of the event, I was still finishing the book (thank you to Harper Collins for a review copy) so watch for a future blog post.

During the question period, Laurie shared that she has always had a love of reading.  She loves books about family and is particularly interested in the relationships of sisters (despite not having a sister of her own).  It is interesting to note that she spends her mornings writing at the local Station 1 Coffeehouse yet completes edits in her home office.  She shared that she is currently working on a new book which will be “totally different”.