Cook Memorial Library District Hosting a Luncheon with Award-Winning Author Ann Packer

Ann Packer, author of the two New York Times best-selling novels, Songs Without Words and The Dive From Clausen's Pier will discuss her work during this luncheon "meet and greet" including her newest book Swim Back to Me on Wednesday, May 16 at 12:00 p.m. at the Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills. This free event is open to the public but registration is required. Call (847) 362-2330 or go to webres.cooklib.org to register. An optional box lunch from Cafe Pyrenees will be provided for $8 which must be paid in advance and in person at either the Cook Park Library or Aspen Drive Library. Lunches may be ordered through May 9.

Swim Back to Me is a collection of burnished, emotionally searing short stories that tackle the gritty realities of living - grief, self-doubt, loss - but also weddings, births and self-discovery; all written from very different points of view and framed by two unforgettably linked narratives that express the transformation of a single family over a course of a lifetime. They include a young boy on the brink of his teen years, a grieving mother, a divorced, middle-aged woman who is newly re-married and an expectant father.

Praise for Swim Back to Me:

Ladies Home Journal says, "Ann Packer has a talent for creating authentic, absorbing characters - and it's on full display in Swim Back to Me."

"As funny as it is sad...full of revelations...near perfection...[A] lovely, masterful collection." said Mameve Medwed of the Boston Globe. 

Kim Hubbard of People Magazine describes Swim Back to Me as "Astute...anyone intrigued by the ways we both fail and save one another will find ample food for thought here."

Ann Packer was an English major at Yale University but didn't start writing fiction until her senior year. After college, she took a job writing paperback cover copy at Ballantine Books, attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop and sold her first short story to The New Yorker a few weeks before receiving her M.F.A. degree.

Packer spent almost ten years writing The Dive From Clausen's Pier which sold almost immediately to the editor at Alfred A. Knopf. It was the first selection of the Good Morning America "Read This!" book club and received a Great Lakes Book Award, an American Library Association Award, and the Kate Chopin Literary Award. Packer's second novel Songs Without Words is also published by Knopf. In addition to fiction, Packer has written essays for Vogue and Real Simple magazines.

Ann Packer currently lives in Northern California with her two children. Books for sale and signing will be provided by Lake Forest Bookstore.