This in-person event is a part of the 2026 Virginia Festival of the Book and will take place at the shop.
This event spotlights three works of fiction that feature women who must shoulder the weight of kinship. Elizabeth Becker’s The Moonlight Healers intertwines two timelines: World War II France and present-day Appalachia, following generations of women who possess secret, magical healing abilities, including one young woman who brings her best friend back from the dead, with startling consequences. In The Lost Baker of Vienna, a 2018 woman—bereft over the loss of her grandfather, who survived the Holocaust—must find out what happened, while a 1946 refugee turns to baking her late father’s recipes as solace. Finally, The Deliverance of Barker McRae by Stacia Pelletier is set in 1833 Georgia during the state’s gold rush and the illegal seizure of Cherokee lands. This novel follows a fourteen-year-old girl who, after winning land in a lottery, is forced to choose between family and her own future in a story of frontier life and unlikely friendship.
For more information, visit vabook.org.
Order the Books Ahead of Time from New Dominion Bookshop
Shop local and support your community bookshop! You can order your books ahead of time for the 2026 Virginia Festival of the Book by filling out the contact form below. Please make sure that you list the book title(s) that you would like to order. We will give you a call when your order is ready. There is no need to pre-pay. We will collect your payment when you pick up your order or when your order is shipped. Books will also be for sale on-site at the event. (There is no need to place an order if you plan to attend the event and purchase books there in person.)