Local author Norma Murphy will talk about her new novel A Better Life. Copies will be available for purchase. Reading will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. 

Book Synopsis: One summer morning, Jenny takes a little girl from the back seat of a car, telling herself and her boyfriend Gene she was saving her. After learning the girl is a foster child, Jenny decides to raise the girl, whom she names Margaret, as her own. Their life as a family is complicated by Jenny's erratic behavior as well as Gene's frequent absences and unfulfilled promises. Despite this, Margaret forms a strong bond with both of them, a bond that is tested when Margaret learns about her abduction. At fifteen, Margaret leaves home to seek answers about who she is and where she truly belongs. Told from both Jenny and Margaret's perspectives, this is a story of commitment, survival, and redemption.

About the Author: Norma Murphy was born and raised in the Acre, in Lowell, Massachusetts. After high school she decided to move to Colorado, just because, where she lived for 7 years before returning home to New England, and Lowell. She began taking her first college courses at UMass Lowell when she was 35, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in English, then a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She found one of her passions is teaching, and taught for 18 years, including elementary and middle school students as well as teachers. Teaching writing, sharing the joy that comes with writing, and seeing students become excited about putting words together have been incredibly rewarding. Now she is fortunate to pursue her deepest passion, writing.