Gwinnett County Public Library Adult Programs

Join bestselling author Emily Carpenter in discussing her newest psychological thriller, Gothictown, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the sun-dappled streets and Southern hospitality.

• Books will be available for sale and signing.

Welcome to gentle Juliana, where you can have it all…if you pay the price.

The email that lands in Billie Hope’s inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she’ll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true…or a devil’s bargain.
A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything promised—two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a “gentle jewel” with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss any troubling signs…

But Billie’s sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana’s founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.

There’s something about “Gentle Juliana”—something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she’s starting to wonder how, and if, they’ll ever leave.

Emily Carpenter is the bestselling author of four thrillers: Until the Day I Die, Every Single Secret, The Weight of Lies, and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. A graduate of Auburn University, Emily has worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for CBS television. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she moved to New York City before returning to the South, where she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her family.

Moderating the talk will be Wanda M. Morris. Wanda is the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets, Anywhere You Run, and What You Leave Behind. Wanda is a former corporate lawyer. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color and serves on the Board of International Thriller Writers. She is married, the mother of three and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Get inspired by color and get in touch with your feelings!

Artist Diamonde Williamson will encourage you to break through convention and instead use your imagination to test out and play with a variety of color combinations to infuse more beauty into the world and to experience your feelings in more depth. Color your world and create something new! All supplies will be provided.

***

Diamonde Williamson is a former television and film director and producer. Using digital art and words as mediums of expression, Williamson, who is also a writer, is inspired by color, objects, and feelings.