Thursday, March 5 2026 at 6:00pm
Pope Memorial Library
2719 Main Street
North Conway, NH 03860
We are in for a treat. Dan Simon, the founder and editor-in-chief of Seven Stories Press, will be at the Pope Memorial Library to talk about his debut novel, ASHLAND, a deeply moving family story set in Ashland, N.H. If that weren't enough, he will be in conversation with Shannon Bowring, author of the Dalton trilogy and our 2024 One Book One Valley Author.
Kirkus reviews says that ASHLAND is "Powerfully poetic, this novel serves as a cross section of the Granite state, a testament to American virtues—and flaws.”
The story takes place in Ashland, New Hampshire, a former mill town in the lakes region, and is told in six voices, among them Carolyn, a twenty year old writer at a turning point in her life; Gordon, who arrives in Ashland in the twilight of his years; Andy, a local boy; Geoff, Carolyn's writing teacher at Plymouth State; and Edith, Gordon's wife, who is inadvertently Carolyn's spiritual guide and friend. Then there is Jennie, Carolyn's aunt, who seems to offer her a model for how to live. But things aren't always what they seem, and Carolyn must discover her own rules and make her own way.
Shannon Bowring is distinctly poised to talk small towns, having grown up in small town Maine and then written her amazing Dalton trilogy set up in the County. She will talk to Dan about his book and then the two will happily take questions.
Books for both authors will be available for sale at the event. To help us plan, please RSVP if you plan on attending.
About the Book: A deeply moving family story unfolding in richly evocative prose and a poetic portrayal of a town in decline during the final decades of the American century, Ashland is a book of metamorphoses--of the dance between permanence and transformation.
In Ashland, New Hampshire, Carolyn, born of a teenage pregnancy, grows up alongside her mother Ellie, her aunt Jennie, and her cousins. Ashland is the type of place that most people plan to leave, but few do. Beauty can be found in small things--the trees in the wind, the sky's particular shade of blue, a swim in the river, love, and family. But life can often be unforgiving and solace hard to come by. Carolyn reconciles the losses in her own life with an education at Plymouth State, the local university, and then by capturing in words her world and the people who inhabit it.
Recalling the novels of Richard Russo, Paul Harding, Marilynne Robinson, and Elizabeth Strout, Ashland is a debut novel of great intensity and poetry told in the voices of many vivid characters and, through them, in the voice of Ashland itself.