About the author:
\nLinda Kass \;began her career as a magazine journalist and c orrespondent for regional and national publications. \;Along with her forthcoming novel\, \;World News from Waverley High\, she is the author of three previous works of historical fiction: \;Tasa&rsquo\;s Song \;(2016)\, \;A Ritchie Boy< /em> \;(2020)\, and \;Bessie \;(2023). A longtime civ ic leader\, she is the founder and owner of Gramercy Books\, an independen t bookstore in Central Ohio. Linda lives in Columbus with her husband\, Fr ank\; they have four children\, six grandchildren\, and a labradoodle name d Wally.
\nSet during one school year against the backdrop of an Ame rica on the brink of change\, \;World News from Waverley H igh \;reveals the crossroads of personal growth and nati onal unrest.
\n1969. Lena Rosen is an intelligent\, observant teenag er torn between spontaneity and self-consciousness. During her junior year \, she becomes attuned to the pulse of her times in her first-period Curre nt History class\, where rebellion\, social change\, and musical innovatio n of the 1960s dominate discussion. When Lena becomes the associate editor of the school newspaper \;The Beacon\, she is drawn into the swirling discourse surrounding the Vietnam War\, civil rights\, environmental disa sters\, and campus protests&mdash\;while also grappling with her growing a ttraction to Jack Stone\, the paper&rsquo\;s editor.
\nAs the year p
rogresses and the antiwar movement gains momentum\, the unrest builds at W
averley High. Lena wrestles with her own cultural and religious identity a
s a Jewish teen while she and her fellow students struggle to cope with ra
cial discord\, a bomb threat\, and the emotional toll of a world that seem
s to be unraveling. When tragedy collapses the distance between headlines
and Lena&rsquo\;s own life\, she must decide what it means to stand for pe
ace&mdash\;and to hope for a better world.
Linda Kass will be i
n conversation with Fran Belkin\, \;the author of Rock This Town! Backstage in Cleveland: Stories You Never Heard &\; Sw
ag You Never Saw\, the incredible story of a most unusual family busi
ness: Belkin Productions.
B
ooks will be available for purchase courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Cov
entry.
This event is presented in partnership with Mandel JCC.