There is currently an issue logging into Libby and OverDrive
Register 100 Seats Remaining
An evening with the best-selling authors of The Phoenix Crown.
Historical fiction authors Kate Quinn and Janie Chang unite to each discuss their latest novels, The Astral Library and The Fourth Princess.
The amazing team of Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, authors of The Phoenix Crown, return to Cambridge, each with a new book. Together they will discuss the themes of their newest novels and more details from behind the pages.
Stop by the Woolf & Company (formerly Rookery Books) table to purchase titles by the author and have them signed as a memento of this special event.
Doors for this event will open at 6:00 pm.
Registration is required to confirm attendance. Please register for everyone attending. Limited entry without registration may be available at the door, but is not guaranteed.
About Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.
The Astral Library
From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.
Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.
The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?
About Janie Chang
Janie Chang is a Globe and Mail bestselling author of historical fiction. Born in Taiwan, Chang has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, New Zealand, and Canada. Her novels often draw from family history and ancestral stories. She has a degree in computer science and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio Program at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road, The Library of Legends, and The Porcelain Moon; and co-author of the USA Today bestseller The Phoenix Crown, with Kate Quinn.
The Fourth Princess
Shanghai, 1911. Lisan Liu is elated when her guardian allows her to take a job as secretary to wealthy American Caroline Stanton, the new mistress of Lennox Manor on the outskirts of Shanghai’s International Settlement. However, the Manor has a dark reputation due to the previous owner’s suicide. Soon after her arrival, Lisan’s childhood nightmares resurface and she is plagued by haunting visions of a woman in red.
Newly-married Caroline looks forward to life in China with her husband Thomas, away from the shadows of an earlier tragedy. But an unwelcome guest, Andrew Grey, attends her party and claims to know secrets she can’t afford exposed. At the same party, the notorious princess Masako Kyo approaches Lisan with questions about her past that the orphaned young woman is unable to answer.
As Caroline struggles with Grey’s extortion and Thomas’ sudden illness, Lisan’s future is upended when her guardian finally divulges the truth about her past, and why her identity has been kept a secret all these years. As the strange incidents around the mansion begin to accelerate, and Lisan feels unable to leave Lennox Manor until she solves one last mystery, which has been communicated to her from beyond the grave.
Accessibility
If you require an accessibility accommodation for this program or event, please tell us how we can meet your needs as soon as possible so arrangements can be organized. If you require a sign language interpreter, please let us know at least two-weeks (10 working weekdays) before the program date.
If you are attending a registered program with a support person, please add your support worker as a guest when you sign up.
COST: Free
The Old Post Office is an award-winning, all-digital public library, offering breathtaking views of the Grand River and free technology programs for all ages. Each floor in this restored heritage building offers a unique area of exploration, including the Creative Studios, Children’s Discovery Centre, Makerspace, and Riverview Reading Room.
Cambridge Public Library supports and inspires its community to explore reading, the arts, innovation, and lifelong learning across five locations and online.
Hours and Locations
My Account
How Do I?
