Forbes Library and Broadside Bookshop present the launch of The Lost Women of Azalea Court by Ellen Meeropol In Conversation with Lisa Downing. 

Author's Statement: 

This novel begins on a chilly November morning, when eighty-eight-year-old Iris Blum goes missing from Azalea Court, a six-bungalow development on the grounds of a long-closed state mental hospital. Her husband, Asher Blum, was the last head psychiatrist at the hospital, and he is writing a book about the treatment of mental illness. Their daughter Lexi, the neighbors, and police detective McPhee suspect Dr. Blum of being involved in Iris's disappearance. When the searches and interviews come up empty, the neighbor women dig into the past--Asher's childhood experiences with anti-Nazi partisans in the forests of Poland, unethical practices at the mental hospital, and Iris's mysterious best friend, Harriet. Lexi, the neighbor women, a homeless woman who befriends Iris, and Detective McPhee uncover the ghosts, secrets, and lies of the past; together, they narrate this story.

To me, this is a story about sisterhood and about how we treat mental illness and about taking care of each other despite our differences. It's also about the sins of the past and trying to move beyond them. Or not.

Books will be available for sale. 

Attendance is limited to 50.