“Everyone has a story,” Lizbeth Ericson tells her friend Ruth at the beginning of “A Glimpse and Gone Forever,” the fourth and final book in the New Hope series of excellent historical western novels from the author of Cuyahoga Falls, Karen J.Hasley.
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Lizbeth, a minor character in Book One, “What We Carry With Us,” has returned from two years at an all-girls academy in Omaha. With her mother dead and her father and her brother Paul not saying a word, Lizbeth wonders about her future. She stays at Ruth’s boarding house and helps with Ruth’s children, but otherwise all she has to prove is a story that has been accepted in a women’s magazine.
New Hope has continued to grow since the Union Pacific Railroad came along, and there is a nice hotel, a music hall, and a hardware store. The newspaper, closed since the previous owner sold it, has been taken over by a man named Al Kennedy, and the schoolteacher’s wife suggests that Lizbeth look for a job there.
Lizbeth learns to set the font and writes a few stories, though she often forgets her notepad and pencil. A new store has opened and Al sends Lizbeth away. She meets Mr. and Mrs. Hong and their three children, who are setting up their tidy paint and wallpaper shop. She is delighted, but the reader can feel trouble brewing. As early as “What We Carry With Us,” suspicions fell on newcomers and those with foreign accents.
Hasley’s deliberate pacing may lead the reader to assume that little is going on in New Hope. Lizbeth walks with her friend Lucas, the town deputy, to talk about things. Ella’s brother Charlie de ella, who had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with a gang of bank robbers, has been released two years earlier on the recommendation of the New Hope sheriff.
Charlie isn’t inclined to hang around town until he meets the Hong’s stunning daughter.
Meanwhile, tensions run through the city. Small events, like a loose herd of cattle and some graffiti painted on a train station wall, slowly escalate into violence.
Even the secondary characters are well defined and it is unfortunate that this is the last visit to New Hope.
“A Glimpse and Gone Forever” (306 pages, paperback) costs $11.99 in online stores. Karen Hasley is also the author of the five-book Laramie Series and the outstanding stand-alone book “The Dangerous Thaw of Etta Capstone.”
‘peat bogs’
Orchids grow wild in Ohio, but you may never see them. They grow in swamps, delicate ecosystems that are often remote and inaccessible. “Ohio Peat Bogs and the Southern Great Lakes” by Guy L. Denny, with glorious photography by Gary Meszaros, zooms in on rare orchids, salamanders, and dragonflies.
Things start with a detailed explanation of glaciation, how swamps are formed, and the different types of swamps. Next comes an overview of moss, fungi, and the rich variety of plants and animals that thrive in ancient ecosystems.
“Peatlands of Ohio and the Southern Great Lakes Region” (132 pages, paperback) costs $27.95 from Kent State University Press. Guy L. Denny is retired from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and is co-founder and president of the Ohio Association of Nature Reserves and Areas; Gary Meszaros’s photographs have appeared in six other books by the publisher.
events
blackberry books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Emma Riva signs “Night Shift in Tamaqua,” Sunday at 1 p.m. At 2 pm, Denise Monique signs “Despite My Odds,” her memoir on surviving childhood abuse. At 6:30 pm Thursday, Robert Kehew, editor and translator of “The Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadors, A Bilingual Edition,” reads from the anthology.
bookcase by the fireplace (29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls): Author Heather Reeder and illustrator Joyce Teeft sign “Our Town Letter by Letter” for the book’s 10th anniversary, Sunday from 1-3 pm.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow Branch, 2121 Snow Road): Former Beacon Journal writer Chuck Klosterman talks about “The Nineties: A Book,” his reflections on the culture and events of a decade, 7-8 pm Mondays. Tickets are $25 and include a copy of the book; students are free with ID. Advance notice for an event sure to be packed: On June 12, James Patterson will discuss his autobiography. Tickets are $25; Admission to a pre-show reception with Patterson is $45. Sign up at Cuahogalibrary.org.
Waterloo Restaurant (423 E. Waterloo Road): Don Ake holds “Drinks with the Author” and signs his humor book “Turkey Terror at My Door: Misadventures & Memoirs of a Middle-Aged Man,” 5:30-8 p.m. Tuesday . (This event was mentioned in the May 8th book talk – the mistake was mine.)
Hudson Library and Historical Society: Masha Gessen will speak on “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” and “Surviving Autocracy” in a Zoom event at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Sign up at hudsonlibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch, 1876 S. Green Road): Cleveland Heights author Paula McLain (“The Paris Wife”) talks with Chris Bohjalian (“The Flight Attendant”) about her landmark thriller “The Lioness” , set in a glamorous African Safari in 1964, Tuesdays from 7 to 8 pm. Sign up atwhosahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library: Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa talks about her novel “A Woman of Resistance,” about an enslaved African woman in 19th-century Puerto Rico, in a Zoom session from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday from 7-8 pm, Samantha Bailey (“Woman on the Edge”) talks about “Watch Out for Her,” about a mother whose instincts about her child’s babysitter turn out to be tragically correct. Sign up atwhosahogalibrary.org.
KeyBank State Theater (Playhouse Square, 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland): Neil Gaiman, whose books like “The Graveyard Book” have won the Hugo and Bram Stoker awards and the Newbery and Carnegie medals, talks about his work, Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. . Tickets are $25 to $85. Go to playhousesquare.org.
Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (1375 E. Ninth St.): Fiona Hill presents “From Russia to Rustbelts: Witness to Domestic Fragility” and signs “There’s Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century,” 5:15 pm Wednesday. Admission is $25. Register at ccwa.org.
Cuyahoga Falls Public Library (2015 Third St.): Tallmadge author Amanda Flower joins the Riverfront book club as they discuss their cozy mystery “Farm to Trouble,” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Sign up at Cuyahogafallslibrary.org.
wadsworth library (132 Broad St.): Emilia Rosa reads her novel “Finding Christina,” set in 1920s Rio de Janeiro, from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.
Cleveland City Club (850 Euclid Ave.): Jeffrey Nussbaum, former chief speechwriter for President Joe Biden and author of “Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewrite History,” is the speaker at the City Club Forum, followed by a signature from books. , 11:30 a.m. Friday. Tickets are $38; go to cityclub.org.
apple tree books (12419 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights): Raffaele Di Lallo signs “Houseplant Warrior: 7 Keys to Unlocking the Mysteries of Houseplant Care” and hosts a “houseplant clinic,” 1-3 p.m. on Fridays.
Akron-Summit County Public Library (Richfield Branch, 3761 S. Grant St.): Copley resident Mary E. Ciesa and Richfield illustrator Kristina Tartara read “Spiros the Soup-Eating Dinosaur” and hiked the Carter Pedigo Trail behind the library, for kindergarten children. to 5th grade, Saturday from 10:30 am to noon. Sign up at akronlibrary.org.
bookstore logos (976 W. Main St., Kent): Edie Bowman of Canton signs “God in Every Moment: Nothing Is Off Limits,” and Deborah Markowitz Solan of Cuyahoga Falls signs Chesed: The Discovery of God’s Mercy by a Jewish woman. Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cleveland Public Library: Anita Hill, central to the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, speaks on “Believe: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender-Based Violence” in a Zoom event Saturday noon. Sign up at cpl.org.
Learned Owl Bookstore (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Molly Perry signs her sons’ adventure “The Game” and its sequel “The Letter from Sweet Abundance,” from 1-3 pm Saturday.
Email local interest book information and event notices at least two weeks in advance to [email protected] and [email protected] Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
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