Author Emily Sweeney will discuss her new book, Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life via Zoom.
This book chronicles, for the first time, the unbelievable life of Dr. John “Dropkick” Murphy, a professional wrestler who put himself through medical school during the Great Depression and then opened Bellows Farm, a one-of-a-kind institution that served as both a facility where elite athletes could train as well as a secluded place where down-on-their-luck alcoholics could go to sober up discreetly. The celebrities who frequented Dropkick Murphy’s farm were many, and numerous professional athletes would go there to focus on their training and work out in his state-of-the-art gymnasium. As a result, Bellows Farm featured an unrivaled and revolving cast of colorful characters who brought it to life. Drawing on years of research and interviews, author Emily Sweeney goes behind the scenes to reveal the untold story of Murphy’s life, his farm, and the legendary events that unfolded there.
Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe and author of the books Boston Organized Crime and Gangland Boston. A proud native of Dorchester, she also appears in “Bloody Boston,” a two-part documentary special on the Reelz channel; “Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed, “a bonus feature on the DVD of the Oscar-winning movie “The Departed;” and the forthcoming Netflix series “How To Become A Mob Boss.”
In collaboration with the Tewksbury Library. And Sponsored by the Corning Foundation and the Friends of the Tewksbury Library.
Please join us as we welcome author Jane Healey back to the Nevins Library to discuss her latest novel, Good Night from Paris.
A bit about the book:
In Nazi-occupied France, an American film star takes on the most dangerous role of her life in a gripping historical fiction novel about loyalty and resistance, inspired by a true story.
Jane Healey has previously visited the Nevins Library for her novel The Beantown Girls and held a virtual visit with us for her novel The Secret Stealers.
Books will be available for purchase and signing, thanks to our friends at Haley Booksellers.
Register here to reserve your seat for the Jane Healey author event.
The book explores the darkly intertwined fates of infamous socialite Ann Woodward & literary icon Truman Capote, sweeping us to the upper echelons of Manhattan’s high society – where falls from grace are all the more shocking.
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Roseanne Montillo is the author of three other works of nonfiction, Fire on the Track, The Lady and her Monsters and The Wilderness of Ruin. A former library research assistant, she holds her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, where she teaches courses on literature, in addition to courses at Lesley and Tufts Universities. She lives outside of Boston.
Please join us as we celebrate Methuen’s own bestselling author
Jay Atkinson’s newest book, THE TREE STAND
Friday October 21, 2022 6pm – 8pm
Jay Atkinson’s THE TREE STAND presents short stories of hardscrabble living and crushing blows, shot through with seams of love and hope. You will find the settings convincing and mesmerizing; the characters, heartwarming and heartbreaking.
“These stories of love and loss play like great songs from a favorite radio station, carried on the powerful FM frequency of Jay Atkinson’s trademark clean, precise prose. THE TREE STAND is transporting.” —Chuck Hogan, New York Times bestselling author of THE TOWN.
Doors open at 6pm. Refreshments will be served. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Please join us as we welcome local author Peter Clenott for a discussion on his latest historical fiction THE UNWANTED.
Tuesday October 18, 2022 6:30pm – 7:30pm
A bit about the book:
Germany has just invaded Poland; 14-year-old Hana Ziegler is being driven by her grandfather and her psychiatrist to a euthanasia center; 16-year-old Silke Hartenstein graces the covers of Nazi propaganda magazines; Avi Kreisler is a Munich police detective rounded up for Dachau; David McAuliffe’s patrician father wants his eldest son elected first Catholic president of the United States. In the aftermath of war, revenge brings these four people together in ways unimaginable.
Please join us in welcoming Methuen native Jamie Blanco to the Nevins Library to celebrate her book, “Hope for the Hopeless“, a book about miraculous survival in the face of a terminal cancer diagnosis. It is a multigenerational story of resilience, holistic treatment, and self-advocacy that inspires the seriously ill to never lose hope.
Tuesday September 20, 2022, 7 – 8pm
Jimmy Blanco, a young father and medical professional, became one of the longest-living survivors of the world’s deadliest brain cancer — and he defied the odds without traditional medicine. In 1995 he was given 3 months to live with no hope of survival. So, Jimmy rejected chemo, radiation, and the doctor’s death sentence for him. Instead, he radically altered his diet, used natural medicine/supplements, utilized mental focus techniques like visualization, and had a healthy faith in God. He fought EIGHT incredible years against the same tumor that claimed the lives of John McCain, Beau Biden and Ted Kennedy – a disease that today still kills most of its victims in under 15 months in the United States. Many doctors have called Jimmy’s story a miracle.
Jimmy began writing about his incredible journey but sadly did not finish it.
15 years later after his death his daughter Jamie Blanco, now an award-winning journalist, found her father’s book and has finally brought his story to life. Jamie packs Hope for the Hopeless with the latest cancer research, expert interviews with naturopathic oncologists, health coaches, and motivational speakers, and an inspiring conversation with international best-selling author Lorna Byrne about the healing power of faith and dying with grace. This book looks to provide an inspirational and practical tool kit, both holistic and mainstream, for those struggling with terrible diagnoses.
Jamie also investigates the biggest factors that she believes contributed to her father’s radical remissions, which anyone can apply to their own self-care TODAY. These include:
· Healthful Diet/Nutrition Changes
· Mental Fortitude Techniques and Faith
· Adding a Knowledgeable Naturopathic Oncology Professional to your Treatment Team
This multigenerational memoir spans more than twenty-five years and tells the story of heartache, miracles, the power of nature and faith, and the bonds of love that disease and death cannot break.
ABOUT JAMIE BLANCO
Jamie is an award-winning journalist and mother of two currently residing in the Boston area. Jamie put herself through college by working in local TV newsrooms, first in Miami, then in Boston. She graduated cum laude from Emerson College in 2009 before venturing to Washington D.C. where she became Morning News Manager at WNEW, a CBS News Radio station. She and her team won an Edward R. Murrow award for Best Newscast and racked up numerous other Associated Press awards. Jamie became Acting Managing Editor at WNEW before moving back to Boston and accepting a position at legendary news operation WBZ NewsRadio. Once the COVID pandemic hit Jamie took time away from journalism for her greatest job yet, as a full-time mom to her two small children.
Jamie enjoys nerd culture, hosts an iHeartRadio podcast called ‘The Hub on Hollywood’ and is now a frequent background actor in film and TV. Her most notable acting credit is as body-double for Ana de Armas in the movie “Knives Out”.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.
The Nevins Library is pleased to welcome bestselling author William Martin to talk about his latest historical thriller DECEMBER ’41: A WORLD WAR II THRILLER. In this novel, Martin takes us on the ultimate manhunt, a desperate chase from Los Angeles to Washington, D. C., in the first weeks of the Second World War.
A little about the novel:
On the day after Pearl Harbor, shocked Americans gather around their radios to hear Franklin Roosevelt declare war. In Los Angeles, a German agent named Martin Browning is planning to kill FDR on the night he lights the National Christmas Tree. Who will stop him? Relentless FBI Agent Frank Carter? Kevin Cusack, a Hollywood script reader who also spies on the German Bund of Los Angeles, and becomes a suspect himself? Or Vivian Hopewell, the aspiring actress who signs on to play Martin Browning’s wife and cannot help but fall in love with him?
Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Please register here for this program, as space is limited.
Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list.
Two very different sisters, Glenn and Natalie, haunted by the murder of their father 20 years earlier, find the past rushing back when Glenn, a rising star in the baking world, begins receiving ominous messages that could be linked to the events of that night long ago.
Books will be available for purchase and signing through our friends at Haley Booksellers.
Seats are limited, so please register now and save your seat! And please, if your plans change, please let us know so that we may invite someone from the wait list to join the event.
To register for this in-person author event, CLICK HERE.
Virtual Author Event: Alafair Burke and Hank Phillippi Ryan
Monday January 24, 2022 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM via Zoom
Start off the New Year with a virtual visit from two favorite authors! On Monday, January 24 at 7:00 pm, join Hank Phillippi Ryan in conversation with Alafair Burke via Zoom.
About Alafair Burke: Alafair Burke is the New York Times, Edgar Award nominated author of twenty crime novels. Published in more than twenty languages, her books have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today Show, Entertainment Weekly, People, O (Oprah Magazine), The Boston Globe, Washington Post, Sun Sentinel, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and numerous other outlets. She has been called “a genius for plot” and “one of our greatest contemporary mystery writers.” She is the current President of Mystery Writers of America and the first woman of color to be elected to that position. In addition to her own work, Alafair also co-authored the “Under Suspicion” series with Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark. Her latest novel, Find Me, will be released in mid-January 2022.
About Hank Phillippi Ryan: Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 13 thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, four Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. Book critics call her “a master of suspense,” “a superb and gifted storyteller,” and she’s the only author to have won the Agatha in four different categories: Best First, Best Novel, Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. Her 2019 standalone, The Murder List, won the Anthony Award for Best Novel. Her latest novel, Her Perfect Life, was released Fall 2021 and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, which called it “A superlative thriller.”
This event is hosted in collaboration with Haley Booksellers and Massachusetts Public Libraries. Signed copies of both Burke’s and Ryan’s latest books will be available for sale before and during the event from our bookstore partner, Haley Booksellers (https://haley-booksellers.square.site/)
We are thrilled to welcome bestselling authors 
via Zoom
Nevinsbuzz 