New York Times bestselling author and former Greenwich resident Beatriz Williams launches the first novel in a new series, Wicked City, on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Meeting Room. Williams’s fourth novel recreates jazz age New York City in this deliciously glam adventure featuring a love triangle between a rugged Prohibition agent, a saucy redheaded flapper and her upper-crust suitor.
Fans of The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, Along the Infinite Sea and Overseas will enjoy Williams’s spiciest novel yet, mixing past and present in downtown Manhattan.
After discovering her husband’s infidelity, modern day Ella moves from their Soho loft into a Greenwich Village apartment, where she’s warned by neighbors to stay out of the basement at night. Tenants have reported strange noises after midnight — laughter, clinking glasses, jazz piano — even though the space, a former speakeasy, has been empty for decades.
Suddenly, we’re in the Roaring Twenties with Geneva “Gin” Kelly, a smart-mouthed flapper who frequents the speakeasy Ella overhears. Gin’s adventures will shake proper Manhattan society to its foundations, exposing secrets that shock even this free-spirited redhead. In the present, Ella learns more about her predecessor and finds herself inspired to dance to her own rhythm in her own city.
Williams’s debut novel Overseas became an international sensation, while New York Times best seller A Hundred Summers probed classic themes of love in a Depression-era tale. Her books have been translated into 12 languages. Visit beatrizwilliams.com.
Books will be available for purchase and signing through co-sponsor Diane’s Books. This series is open to all at no charge, but seating in the Meeting Room is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Refreshments will be served. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please contact Marianne Weill at 203-622-7933, email authorslive@greenwichlibrary.org or visit greenwichlibrary.org/authorslive.
