Friday, September 7, 2012

Author visit with Taylor Polites

Brooke McDonough, Taylor Polites and Carol Jankowski
by Laura Sullivan

Last night, we had the treat of spending the evening with the delightful Taylor Polites (pronounced like "politest", without the t on the end) author of The Rebel Wife. His visit was a part of Westwinds' and the Duxbury Free Library's very popular series, Book Breeze, which was favorably featured in The Boston Globe yesterday.

You can tell not by his accent, but by Taylor's charming manner that he grew up in the South, in Huntsville Alabama, near where his story takes place. As a child, Taylor was fascinated by the tales of the Civil War, and of the South's reconstruction efforts in the late 19th century. He worked in a southern mansion in Huntsville as a tour guide as a teenager, and it was then that his story began to take shape. In college he studied the Reconstruction Era, and is still as fascinated by the subject as when he first began learning about it. His passion for this time in our nation's history and it's complicated characters are evident as he speaks. He clearly so enjoys passing on his knowledge and creating characters that bring Alabama in 1875 to life. I haven't read the book yet, but after Taylor's reading and our subsequent discussion, I can't wait to see what happens to Augusta (the title character) next.

Thanks for a very enjoyable evening, and not giving away any spoilers, Taylor!



Read The Rebel Wife, available at Westwinds.

Come to Westwinds' next Book Breeze event with Emily Sweeney at The Duxbury Free Library on September 19th.



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