Book Launch /Author Reading

Tuesday | June 27 | 4:30-6:00pm
Blue Heron Coffeehouse

Kathleen Peterson, writing under her family name of Kathleen Kenney, has published a novel set in Ireland with Doubleday. “Quiet and lyrical, Girl on the Leeside is a slim, beautiful debut about one woman taking her place in the world.” Shelf Awareness review.

About Girl on the Leeside:

Siobhan Doyle grew up with her Uncle Kee at their family pub, The Leeside, in rural Ireland. Kee has been staunchly overprotective of Siobhan ever since her mother’s death in an IRA bombing, but now that she’s an adult, it’s clear that in protecting her Kee has unwittingly kept her in a state of arrested development. The pair are content to remain forever in their quiet haven, reading and discussing Irish poetry, but for both Siobhan and Kee fate intervenes.

A visiting American literary scholar awakens Siobhan to the possibility of a fulfilling life away from the Leeside. And her relationship with Kee falters after the revelation of a family secret. In the face of these changes, Siobhan reaches a surprising decision about her future. Lyrical and heartfelt, Kathleen Anne Kenney’s Girl on the Leeside deserves a place alongside contemporary literature’s best-loved coming-of-age novels.

Kathy Peterson is a member of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, visit riverartsalliance.org/JOIN.