Join us for an evening of fine dining and literary reading followed by a discussion with Catamaran contributor and novelist Mark Allen Cunningham to celebrate his new novel Perpetua’s Kin.

Dinner at 6:00pm followed by a reading and discussion at 7:00pm. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Reservations are required. Please phone Gabriella Cafe to make your reservation at: (831) 457-1677

Book description:

Benjamin Lorn, sensitive son of an embittered Civil War veteran, comes of age in the tiny Iowa town of Perpetua where, in a single summer, he mourns the recent loss of his mother, falls in love, and uncovers a shameful family secret that sends him fleeing west. Tormented with this new knowledge, Benjamin seeks transcendence through the telegraph wires that have enchanted him since boyhood. Meanwhile the weight of a dark duty grows more and more pressing. Perpetua's Kin is M. Allen Cunningham's enthralling multi-generational mystery, reworking of Hamlet, and profoundly contemporary exploration of the American experience as one family embodies it. Spanning much of North America over more than a century, from the 1820s Midwest, through the American south of the Civil War, to the remote west of the 1880s, and finally to World War II San Francisco.

About the author:

M. Allen Cunningham, author of: 4 novels, 1 short story collection, 1 book of essays on the creative life, 1 book of cultural criticism. Editor of: 1 volume of Henry David Thoreau's most humorous writing. Many publications in journals, newspapers, and magazines. Contributing editor for the northwest literary journal Moss. Recipient of fellowships, grants & residencies. Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Portland State University, where he teaches creative writing (starting spring 2019).