Author Talk with Jeannine A. Cook

Join Jeannine A. Cook as she discusses her debut novel, "It's Me They Follow," where a modern-day Alchemist meets The Never Ending Story, set in a world where a book shopkeeper becomes a reluctant matchmaker, bringing soulmates together through books.

It’s Me They Follow is an allegorical love story set in a not so distant past. It follows The Shopkeeper, a bookseller and reluctant matchmaker. Helping others find love through books comes easily for The Shopkeeper, until it is time for her to find love for herself.

She secretly yearns for her first customer, ME, who took both her most prized book and a piece of her heart when he left. But just when she begins to lose hope, she discovers that she may hold the key to her own happily ever after as well.

Real life Shopkeeper and author Jeannine A. Cook has conjured a magical story that is a book within a book within a book. Soon, readers will find themselves falling under the same love spell as her customers and characters. In this magical bookshop where the line between fiction and reality blurs, stories and real life intertwine in an enchanting and moving narrative about human connection, the power of storytelling, and the spirit of love.

Books will be available for sale and signing from The Book Cellar.

Jeannine A. Cook is the founder and owner of three avant-garde bookshop concepts, Harriett’s in Philadelphia; Ida’s in South Jersey; and Josephine’s, a literary installation in Paris. She holds an MFA from Drexel University. It’s Me They Follow is her first novel.

Moderator Gabrielle M. Dudley is the Assistant Director of Public Services at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. She is the co-curator of the exhibition “At the Crossroads: Benny Andrews, Flannery O’Connor, and Alice Walker” and the curator of “She Gathers Me: Networks Among Black Women Writers.”

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Host or Publisher Gwinnett County Public Library