Description

Join us at Froggy's French Cafe for a luncheon and discussion with author Christina Clancy as she presents her new novel:

THE SNOWBIRDS

Friday, March 7, 2024 11:30am - 1:30pm

306 Greenbay Road

Highwood, IL 60040

$75 includes lunch and a copy of the book (additional copies on hand for sale)

The Last Thing He Told Me meets Fleishman Is in Trouble in this page-turning story of a couple who flee winter in the Midwest for Palm Springs, where they find their relationship at a crossroads.

Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their "separate but together" partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face. When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he’s really left her. Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be—and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.

Christina Clancy was born in Denver and raised in Milwaukee. She graduated from the University of Minnesota and worked at IBM before returning to school to earn a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduating, she taught English at Beloit College for a decade before turning to writing full time. Her novels have been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, Travel & Leisure, Buzzfeed, Pop Sugar, and Shelf Awareness. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Sun Magazine and in various literary journals including Pleiades, Hobart, LitHub, The Minnesota Review, Glimmer Train Stories, and the Yalobusha Review. She lives in Madison with her very tall husband in their 1916 prairie-style house and she “snowbirds” in Palm Springs as much as she can. She has two grown children who live in Chicago and New York City, and she has a little white dog named Bunny who loves everyone. She’s a super smeller who can’t stand cilantro, a frequent flyer junkie, a terrible cook, a former cycling instructor, and an avid reader who wishes everyone would read on airplanes. She loves to practice yoga and barre, swim, travel, write, teach, visit book clubs, and join other writers in conversation.