Double Book Signing - JB Harris & Kim McCollum

Double Book Signing & Reading JB Harris & Kim McCollum Sunday, April 28 from 12-2 PM

J.B. Harris will be signing copies of The Immigrant's Wife, a dual-POV historical fiction novel inspired by the disappearance of the author’s great-grandfather. In 1913, a middle-class girl and a Greek immigrant defy her parents and buck society by eloping but soon they must give up everything including each other for their love and for their child.

A story of love and perseverance, set when consumption ravaged America. Anna Patrinos is deserted by her husband, but what she doesn’t know is he left to protect her and their unborn baby. Anna’s battle with ostracism, starvation and assault to keep herself and her child alive, interweaves with Charles’ fight to survive and return to his family. Reunited, Anna and Charles confront what it means to belong and whether love is enough to heal their devastated lives and start anew. Harrowing but ultimately hopeful, The Immigrant’s Wife is a compelling story of self-sacrifice, resilience and devotion.

JB Harris is happily married to her husband of 28 years, mom to three teenagers and two rescue dogs. She loves books, chocolate, wine, and traveling. A graduate of Emerson College’s MFA program, she went on to teach fiction at both the undergraduate and graduate levels before publishing her short fiction in such publications as Boston Literary Journal, The Beacon Street Review, Puckerbrush Review, and Grasslimb. She was recently named a finalist in both the Hal Prize in Fiction and the WOW Spring Flash Fiction Contest. The Immigrant’s Wife is her debut novel.

Kim McCollum will be signing copies of What Happens in Montana, a mystery novel set in a remote hot spring resort in Montana where ghosts, secrets, and betrayals lie just beneath the surface.   Maude Reeves, the nearly eighty-year-old chef, longs for the glory days when the retreat hosted martini-sipping celebrities instead of long- haired hippies who refuse to wear deodorant.

Brooke, feisty, adventurous, and a bit reckless, proposes a reunion at the retreat with her best friends to get away from the chaos of her life with teenagers and the emotional aftermath of her postponed wedding. One of those friends, Tracy, has devoted her life to her children and her husband despite her excruciating boredom. But a long-held secret could cost her the most important friendships in her life. Haunting the place is a ghost who, in life, dealt with tragedy by turning to prostitution which led to her murder over 100 years ago at the very place they all are staying. What Happens in Montana explores friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness with blunt truth and witty insights. Together, these friends learn to navigate empty nests, infidelity, deception, and poltergeists. Most importantly, they learn their friendship is strong enough to get them through it all.

Kim McCollum graduated from Barnard College as a Japanese major and headed to work on Wall Street. Many miserable all-nighters and the birth of her first child led her to stay home to raise her children. Eventually, she pursued her passion for writing. An excerpt from this novel appeared in The Copperfield Review Quarterly and her short stories have appeared in The Dillydoun Review, Beyond Solace, and Fiction on the Web. She lives in Bozeman, MT with her husband, Brian, and their blended menagerie of five kids, two dogs, and seven spoiled chickens. What Happens in Montana is her first novel.