Amber Sparks: Happy People Don't Live Here – in Conversation with Anna Beecher

Schedule

Sat Oct 25 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

404 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA, United States, Virginia 22902 | Charlottesville, VA

Advertisement
Join us for an evening with Amber Sparks, who will read from her debut novel, Happy People Don’t Live Here. A conversation with Anna Beecher will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: In this darkly funny gothic tale, a reclusive mother and her saturnine daughter move into a haunted building brimming with eccentrics—and secrets.
Just past the edge of summer, Alice and her daughter, Fern, arrive at the Pine Lake Apartments—a former sanatorium occupied by an ensemble of peculiar neighbors and a smattering of ghosts. Among the living: the Mermaid Lady, who performs in a nightclub fish tank; the building’s handyperson, moonlighting as a medium; and an awkwardly charming professor of medieval studies. Fern alone is acquainted with the undead, who pass like troubled clouds through the apartments, humanity mostly lost ages ago. For the determinedly private Alice, Pine Lake seems the perfect place at the edge of the world to hide herself and her daughter—until the day Fern finds a dead body in the dumpster.
Intent on solving the mystery of this discarded corpse, Fern eagerly puts her encyclopedic knowledge of detective novels to good use while dodging warnings from her increasingly paranoid mother. She soon comes to realize that within the strange tapestry of Pine Lake residents, nothing is ever quite as it seems. Her investigation digs up long-buried secrets, including her mother’s, that implicate each of her neighbors…and conjures a new one from beyond the grave.
The hotly anticipated debut novel from “master of the fantastic” (Roxane Gay) Amber Sparks, Happy People Don’t Live Here is an unforgettable portrait of family—whether by birth or by chance or by choice—and the sometimes dangerous myths we make to keep ours together.
About the Author: Amber Sparks is the author of three collections of short fiction, including And I Do Not Forgive You and The Unfinished World. Her essays, film criticism, and book criticism have appeared widely, in Bright Wall/Dark Room, The Paris Review, Slate, Tin House, Granta, and The Cut, among others. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, daughter, and two cats.
About the Moderator: Anna Beecher is the author of the novel Here Comes the Miracle, which was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and the memoir We All Come Home Alive. Anna’s theater work has been presented by venues including Lincoln Center, Young Vic, Southbank Center, and Barbican London. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Virginia.
Advertisement

Where is it happening?

404 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA, United States, Virginia 22902

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Icon
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
New Dominion Bookshop

Host or Publisher New Dominion Bookshop

Ask AI if this event suits you:

Discover More Events in Charlottesville

Halloween Party!
Sat, 25 Oct at 05:00 pm Halloween Party!

Decipher Brewing

HALLOWEEN FOOD-DRINKS
Foster Art's Halloween Bash
Sat, 25 Oct at 05:00 pm Foster Art's Halloween Bash

1770 Timberwood Blvd Suite 106, Charlottesville, VA, United States, Virginia 22911

HALLOWEEN ART
Picture This: Virginia Is For Lovers
Sat, 25 Oct at 06:00 pm Picture This: Virginia Is For Lovers

Ix Art Park

ART
Sat, 25 Oct at 06:00 pm Masquerade Halloween Party

Carver Recreation Center

PARTIES MUSIC
Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners - Colorado's on Fire Again
Sat, 25 Oct at 08:00 pm Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners - Colorado's on Fire Again

The Jefferson Theater

ART
MOCK STAR'S BALL 2025!
Sat, 25 Oct at 08:00 pm MOCK STAR'S BALL 2025!

The Southern Cafe and Music Hall

MOCK STAR'S BALL 2025! - 2 Day Ticket (10\/24 & 10\/25)
Sat, 25 Oct at 08:00 pm MOCK STAR'S BALL 2025! - 2 Day Ticket (10/24 & 10/25)

The Southern Cafe and Music Hall

Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners at Jefferson Theater-VA
Sat, 25 Oct at 08:00 pm Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners at Jefferson Theater-VA

Jefferson Theater-VA

TRIPS-ADVENTURES ART
Camille DeAngelis and McCormick Templeman
Sat, 18 Oct at 07:00 pm Camille DeAngelis and McCormick Templeman

New Dominion Bookshop

ART LITERARY-ART
An Evening with Karen Hao
Tue, 21 Oct at 06:30 pm An Evening with Karen Hao

Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia

ART WORKSHOPS
Gabrielle Cerberville: Gathered \u2013 in Conversation with Matthew Burtner
Fri, 24 Oct at 07:00 pm Gabrielle Cerberville: Gathered – in Conversation with Matthew Burtner

New Dominion Bookshop

CONCERTS WORKSHOPS
Amber Sparks: Happy People Don't Live Here \u2013 in Conversation with Anna Beecher
Sat, 25 Oct at 07:00 pm Amber Sparks: Happy People Don't Live Here – in Conversation with Anna Beecher

404 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA, United States, Virginia 22902

ART LITERARY-ART
David Sedaris at Martin Luther King Jr Performing Arts Center
Sat, 25 Oct at 08:00 pm David Sedaris at Martin Luther King Jr Performing Arts Center

Martin Luther King Jr Performing Arts Center

PERFORMANCES ART
David Sedaris
Sun, 26 Oct at 12:00 am David Sedaris

Martin Luther King Jr Performing Arts Center

PERFORMANCES ENTERTAINMENT
Kevin Moffett: Only Son
Sat, 01 Nov at 07:00 pm Kevin Moffett: Only Son

New Dominion Bookshop

ART LITERARY-ART
Polina Chesnakova: Chesnok \u2013 in Conversation with Yuri Urbanovich
Fri, 14 Nov at 07:00 pm Polina Chesnakova: Chesnok – in Conversation with Yuri Urbanovich

New Dominion Bookshop

ART LITERARY-ART
The Trouble of Color: Marriage and Family Along the Jagged Color Line
Wed, 19 Nov at 05:00 pm The Trouble of Color: Marriage and Family Along the Jagged Color Line

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Auditorium

Hannah Rosenberg: Same
Fri, 21 Nov at 07:00 pm Hannah Rosenberg: Same

New Dominion Bookshop

ART LITERARY-ART
Inger N.I. Kuin: Diogenes \u2013 in Conversation with Gregory Hays
Sat, 22 Nov at 04:00 pm Inger N.I. Kuin: Diogenes – in Conversation with Gregory Hays

New Dominion Bookshop

ART LITERARY-ART
Green Gathering Book Club: Entangled Life
Sun, 07 Dec at 10:00 am Green Gathering Book Club: Entangled Life

2050 James Monroe Pkwy, Charlottesville, VA, United States, Virginia 22902

MEETUPS BUSINESS

What's Happening Next in Charlottesville?

Discover Charlottesville Events