BookPeople Presents: Andrew Forrester - How the Story Goes

Schedule

Wed May 06 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

BookPeople | Austin, TX

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BookPeople welcomes Andrew Forrester in conversation with Alex Kiester to celebrate the release of How the Story Goes.
About this Event

Please welcome Andrew Forrester and Alex Kiester to celebrate How the Story Goes!

This event is free and open to the public.

  • Start time: 7:00 P.M.
  • Run time: 45-60 minutes, followed by a signing line.
  • Location: The second floor of BookPeople.

The author will be signing and personalizing copies of the book after the speaking portion of the event.

  • To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.
  • For high volume events, post-talk signing lines can become very long. For such events, we recommend arriving and checking in to the event early as that will get you into an earlier signing group.

Can't make the event or want to skip the signing line? Pre-Order How the Story Goes from us to get a signed and personalized copy!

  • Order from BookPeople
  • Add your personalization request (if desired) to the Customer Comments

Guidelines:

  • Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis and is not guaranteed.
  • If you have any accessibility concerns regarding seating, please contact [email protected]
  • If you have any other questions, please visit our Eventbrite FAQ. If your question isn't covered in the FAQ, feel free to email us at [email protected].
  • All event guidelines are subject to change.
  • BookPeople reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event if necessary.
  • There will not be a live stream or recording available.

About the book:

In this heartwarming, bookish debut, a young widower of a famous children’s fantasy author teams up with a down-on-her-luck MFA dropout to write the final book in his late wife’s series...and find their own perfect ending along the way.

Whit Longacre has a monumental task and a looming deadline. After his wife, Helen, died of cancer, she left him with their grieving eight-year-old daughter and a surprise in her will: the small task of writing the final book in her mega-popular children’s fantasy series for her legions of waiting fans.

Whit is the author of moderately successful (but well-received!) literary mysteries. He doesn’t have the first idea of how to complete Helen’s beloved series, and his enigmatic wife seems to have left no clues behind on how the story is supposed to end. Writer’s block is one thing, but to fail in fulfilling his wife’s last wish? Whit is guilt-ridden and dodging calls in the school pick-up line from Helen’s publisher and agent as the deadline fast approaches.

Then Whit meets Merritt Pryor, who works at the local bookstore in their small New England town. Merritt has moved back home after a disastrous affair led to her dropping out of her prestigious MFA program. When Whit realizes that Merritt is a superfan of the Greenwood Castle series, they come up with a plan to tackle the book together. For the first time in years, Merritt finds herself falling back in love with writing…and perhaps with the coauthor offering her the opportunity of a lifetime.

But when Whit uncovers a buried secret about Helen’s final wishes, he questions everything about what he and Merritt have created together, endangering the tender, electrifying partnership that has transformed their lives.

Can Whit and Merritt come up with an ending that feels right…for both a beloved series and for their battered hearts?

About the author:

Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature and lives in Austin, Texas with his family. How The Story Goes is his first novel.

About the moderator:

Alex Kiester is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of All Good People Here and The Missing Half. She is also the author of The Truth About Ben and June and Audible Original, In Her Skin. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband.

By purchasing a book from BookPeople, you are not only supporting a local, independent business – you’re showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to BookPeople.

Thank you for supporting Andrew Forrester, Alex Kiester, and your local independent bookstore!

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Where is it happening?

BookPeople, 603 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

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