LEWISTON — Author, librarian, and freelance-editor Jennifer Dupree is set to celebrate the release of her novel, “The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach.”

The free event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon St.

“The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach” is a novel about what it means to be a “good” mother, and who gets to decide, according to a news release from the library. What happens when a 19-year-old girl, alone and exhausted, follows a fleeting impulse and tosses her screaming infant son out a window? What happens if that baby is caught by a woman who, standing below, looks up and reaches out? And what if the catcher’s own fragile pregnancy ends, causing her to believe that the baby she caught is meant to be hers?

The novel is told from alternating points of view of the three main characters: young mother Sophia Leach, baby-catcher Rose Rankin, and Rose’s husband Hank, who feels like a suited-up coach standing on the sidelines. While Rose dives head on into pursuing custody of Owen Leach, she neglects her own 2-year-old son and her marriage. Hank, desperate to be needed, and Sophia, drawn to the idea of family stability, get dangerously close.

Dupree, a former bookstore owner who lives in Maine, has a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. Her work has appeared in Front Porch Review, The Masters Review, On the Rusk and other places. She is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Fiction Contest for 2017, and both a winner and a finalist for Maine Literary Awards.

In addition to reading from and discussing her novel, Dupree will share her thoughts on the writing process, from beginning new projects through the process of revision. Copies of her book will be available for sale at the event; a book signing will follow her talk.

For more information, contact the LPL Adult & Teen Services desk at 207-513-3135 or lplreference@lewistonmaine.gov.

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