Meet the Author: Shirley Freitas

The novel The Fire Bell Strikes at Midnight is set in California’s Sierra Nevadas in the mid-1980s in a fictional town on the brink of ecological and economic disaster. The surrounding forests are overgrown and frighteningly dry, the lumber mill is closing down, and real estate speculators are secretly planning upscale developments. The town's gold rush history is a sanitized tourist attraction, but newly discovered historical records reveal arson and murder that affect the present day. 

The author, Shirley Freitas, a sixth-generation northern Californian who has lived in Poughkeepsie since 2015, will discuss what went into creating the novel -- imminence of wildfires for most of her life, decades of political activism, extensive research, constant reading of fiction from an early age, and the path to publication at age 72. A Q & A will follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at $12, payable by cash or credit card.  There will also be a display of unusual California flora. No registration required.