Crystal King presents "In the Garden of Monsters" with Whitney Scharer

Crystal will be in conversation with Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light.

If you would prefer to buy your ticket by phone, you may call Wellesley Books at 781-431-1160.

Admission tickets cost $5, or you can buy a copy of the book and receive a free admission ticket. Books will also be available for purchase at the event.

Please note that you must purchase your copy of the book from Wellesley Books in order to have the author sign it at the event.

Please also note that we cannot issue ticket refunds within 48 hours of the event.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A fresh twist on the love story of Hades and Persephone with the creepy atmosphere of Mexican Gothic, this historical fantasy follows a woman with no past as she enters Italy's Garden of Monsters in 1948 and begins to suspect she’s the queen of the Underworld reincarnated.

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Book of Fall 2024

“A sinister romance and hypnotic Gothic fairytale—surreal and luscious with a fascinating twist on the story of Hades and Persephone.” —Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne

A woman with no past. A man who seems to know her. And a monstrous garden that could be the border between their worlds…

Italy, 1948

Julia Lombardi is a mystery even to herself. The beautiful model can’t remember where she’s from, where she’s been or how she came to live in Rome. When she receives an offer to accompany celebrated eccentric artist Salvador Dalí to the Sacro Bosco—Italy’s Garden of Monsters—as his muse, she’s strangely compelled to accept. It could be a chance to unlock the truth about her past…

Shrouded in shadow, the garden full of giant statues that sometimes seem alive is far from welcoming. Still, from the moment of their arrival at the palazzo, Julia is inexplicably drawn to their darkly enigmatic host, Ignazio. He’s alluring yet terrifying—and he seems to know her.

Posing for Dalí as the goddess Persephone, Julia finds the work to be perplexing, particularly as Dalí descends deeper into his fanaticism. To him, she is Persephone, and he insists she must eat pomegranate seeds to rejoin her king.

Between Dalí’s fevered persistence, Ignazio’s uncanny familiarity and the agonizing whispered warnings that echo through the garden, Julia is soon on the verge of unraveling. And she begins to wonder if she’s truly the mythical queen of the Underworld…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Crystal King is an author, culinary enthusiast and marketing expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, Mass College of Art, UMass Boston and GrubStreet, one of the leading creative writing centers in the US. A Pushcart-nominated poet and former co-editor of the online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review, Crystal received her M.A. in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMass Boston, where she developed a series of exercises and writing prompts to help fiction writers in medias res. She considers Italy her next great love, after her husband, Joe, and their two cats, Nero and Merlin.

Crystal King grew up in the Pacific Northwest and now calls Boston home.

Learn more about the author at www.crystalking.com

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Whitney Scharer is the author of The Age of Light, a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller that was named one of the best books of 2019 by Parade, Glamour Magazine, Real Simple, Refinery 29, Booklist and others. Internationally, The Age of Light won Le prix Rive Gauche à Paris, was a coups de couer selection from the American Library in Paris, and has been published in over a dozen other countries. Whitney is the recipient of a 2020 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Fellowship in Fiction, and has been awarded residencies at the Mount, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Ragdale. She grew up in Denver, Colorado and now lives with her husband and daughter in Arlington, MA, where she is at work on her second novel.

Host or Publisher Wellesley Books