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For Jane Austen fans: A reading with author Wendy Zomparelli

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Wendy Zomparelli
Wendy Zomparelli. Photo courtesy New Dominion Bookshop.

New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville will host a book reading and signing with local author Wendy Zomparelli on Friday, May 27, from 7-8 p.m.

Zomparelli will be reading from her new historical fiction novel inspired by Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, titled A Life of Her Own.

This event will be free to attend and open to the public. The bookshop recommends arriving early for the best seating.

For more information, visit ndbookshop.com.

About the book

As an English child of the early 1800s, Margaret Dashwood loves to pore over pictures of the ruins of Pompeii, which kindles her passion for archaeology and for travel.

She refuses to let a lack of money ruin her dream. To her family’s dismay, she goes to London to work as a lady’s companion. She saves every shilling—until an unexpected circumstance provides travel money.

With no male relatives for escorts, she recruits a small party of ladies to join her, a daring endeavor for that time. Margaret is thrilled when she finds an archeological expedition to join, unaware that it leads to peril both for her and her beloved country.

About the author

Zomparelli has always loved to write. After graduating from Cornell University, she was hired as a feature writer for The Raleigh Times and later for its larger sister paper, The News and Observer. Next, she moved to The Roanoke Times in Virginia and eventually became the first woman to be appointed as the paper’s chief editor. She later was named the Times’s first female president and publisher.

Upon retiring, Wendy moved to Charlottesville and from nonfiction to fiction. Her children’s book, Princess Ingeborg and the Dragons, came out in 2018, and A Life of Her Own debuted in November 2021.

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