Connecticut Authors  

If you have gotten to the bottom of your summer reading list already, this Musing features four Connecticut authors that you might want to try.  They have written books that are very diverse in subject matter, but one thing they have in common is being a supporter of the Friends by donating their time and talents to our program offerings.  We are grateful for their support and hope you will give them a try. You can meet these authors at upcoming events, details of which are included throughout this Musing. Some of these books are available through our online museum store, the others can be order from the Book Club On the Go website. 

Penny Goetjen

Penny Goetjen is a National award-winning author who writes murder mysteries where the "milieus play as prominent a role as the engaging characters."  Unfortunately we were unable to host an event for her most recent release this summer due to building maintenance, but you can meet her at several area events celebrating her latest release The Woman Underwater, including this Saturday, August 6, 2022 from 11:30am-1:30pm at Red Heat Tavern in South Windsor.

No one disappears without a trace....

Don't try to tell Victoria Sands that time heals all wounds. It doesn't work that way for a woman who's lost her husband the way she did. Her husband never returned home at the end of a work day and no one seems to know what happened to him.

No witnesses have stepped forward in the seven years since his disappearance, while on a field trip with the private boarding school where he taught-the same school their son now attends.

Susanne Davis

Susanne Davis is also an Award Winning writer. Her first book is a collection of short stories, The Appointed Hour. Her latest book Gravity Hill, placed second in the Blue Moon Novel Competition and is scheduled to be released in September 2022. You can meet Susanne on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 6pm at Wood Memorial Library and at several other area events celebrating its release.

Gravity Hill is a story about Jordan Hawkins, her family, and a small rural town in Connecticut wrecked by the tragic death of three boys on Gravity Hill. But what first appears to be a tragedy of drunk driving leads back to a mysterious accident that has plagued a small town for years, sending Jordan on a journey to clear her brother’s name. What she discovers—a hidden toxic waste site—sends the whole town on its own bumpy road to self-awareness and healing.

Jim Dina

Author Jim Dina has been a long time supporter of the Friends of the Wood Memorial Library and Museum and was instrumental in the development and success of our latest endeavor Nowashe Village.  He has taught an innumerable number of South Windsor third graders during annual fall field trips and he is now a popular presenter in Nowashe. You can meet Jim on Saturday, September 10, 2022, during our Nowashe Open House where he will be demonstrating How to make an Arrow.

A true story of ingenuity and perseverance... with his hand-carved cedar wood paddle, James Dina begins his arduous voyage up the Connecticut River to Canada, against both wind and current. But the real adventure began long before, when he resolved to rediscover the world of the Indians who once paddled these waters. How he fashioned a canoe with only stone age tools, why he went upstream, what he learned about the minds and the hands of the forgotten ages... these are the subject of Voyage of the Ant.

Thomas Edward Grant
Author Thomas Edward Grant, Ph.D., debuted his book Ulysses S. Grant, in 2018 at our Harvest Moon Dinner: A Night at the Museum.  He has since donated many volunteer hours to ensuring the success of the first two seasons of Nowashe Village.  We are extremely grateful for his dedication. His book is now available to purchase in person at the library or through our online Museum Store.  Thomas is an unexpectedly close and direct relative of the subject of his prose, the Union General and eighteenth US President--Ulysses S. Grant.

The author, Thomas Edward Grant, studied the Grant family from its beginnings in the Colony of Connecticut, and reveals Ulysses S. Grant as family prodigy and a representative of the seventh generation in America. This book definitively answers the perplexing question, "Who was U.S. Grant--and where did he come from?" Thomas finds that the answers to this question make Grant's incredible transformation from failure, to victory and fame, quite inevitable--and apparently even predestined. 

Images of America: South Windsor 

Finally, don't forget our book, Images of America: South Windsor, written by Claire Lobdell during her time as archivist for the Friends of Wood Memorial Library & Museum. If you have already read the book, you can further explore South Windsor History by joining us for our “South Windsor: Hidden in Plain Sight” tour on Sunday August 28, 2022.

The book discusses the town of South Windsor in depth regarding it's connection to the Connecticut River and its periodic floods, which created fertile lowlands for the town. It also details well-known streets such as Main Street, Wapping, and Sullivan Avenue, and discusses people that were imperative to the progress of the town along with other fascinating moments of history of South Windsor overall. 

Who Will be Next?

Do you know any authors whether local, regional, or even national that we could highlight or host? Let us know!