Join us for a reception and conversation with David Downie, author of the newly released novel the Gardener of Eden. Lit Chat is at the Catamaran studio #118, and is part of First Friday open studios at the Tannery Arts Center. Books will be available for purchase and author signing.

6:00 - 6:30 reception
6:30 - 7:00 reading and conversation with the author
7:00 - 7:30 book signings

Book description:  

A haunting and luminous novel that explores the dark secrets lurking beneath the stunning natural beauty of a dying timber town. A mysterious beachcomber appears one day on the coastal bluffs near the small town of Carverville, a place whose best days are long behind it. Who is he, and why has he returned after nearly forty years? Carverville’s prodigal son, James, serendipitously finds work at a gentrified motel, but his homecoming soon takes a sinister turn when he and a local teenager make a gruesome discovery on the beach. In The Gardener of Eden, David Downie weaves an intricate and compelling narrative of redemption, revenge, justice, love, and the price of secrecy―as a community grapples with its tortured past and frightening future.

About the author:

David Downie, a native San Franciscan, lived in New York, Rome, and Milan before moving to Paris. Downie’s travel, food and arts features have been published worldwide. He is the author of two previous novels and over a dozen nonfiction history, travel and food books, including the highly acclaimed Paris, Paris; A Passion for Paris; Paris to the Pyrenees; and A Taste of Paris. He divides his time between France and Italy with his wife, the photographer Alison Harris.