STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Verna’s marriage to her childhood friend’s ex-husband could have been the end of their relationship.
But Jolene, a provocative feminist artist who has traveled the world, asks Verna for one more favor—to take a road trip from Verna’s home near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles to their small hometown in Utah.
It’s a journey that will force them to confront the truths and falsehoods of their memories of each other. And it’s a journey that will challenge them to reckon with the meaning of love and of the bonds that matter most.
Judith Freeman, a nationally known writer who lives in Fairfield, has explored such questions as what we owe one another in her new book “MacArthur Park.” And she will discuss it in a conversation with Library Director Jenny Emery Davidson at 6 tonight at Ketchum’s Community Library.
A book signing with Iconoclast Books will follow.
Pre-registration is required to attend in person. All attendees will be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination and to wear a mask inside the library.
The event will also be livestreamed. Register to attend in person at https://www.comlibrary.org. Or, watch the Livestream at https://livestream.com/comlib/macarthur-park
Author Lisa See says that Freeman’s new book takes readers on a journey through the splendor and sometimes ugliness of the American West with dollops of Flaubert, Faulkner, Chekhov and Chandler along the way.
“(It) explores what it means to be an artist and delves into the vicissitudes of life and death,” she added.
Judith Freeman divides her time between Idaho and MacArthur Park where she lives with her artist husband.
She has written four novels—“Red Water,” about the Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah; The Chinchilla Farm,” about a Mormon woman who heads for Los Angeles to find herself; “Set for Life,” about a widower finding healing with the help of a 16-year-old runaway, and “A Desert of Pure Feeling,” about a woman struggling to make peace with herself who encounters a single mother, stripper and prostitute panicked about her own life.
She also has written “The Long Embrace,” a biography of detective fiction writer Raymond Chandler, and a collection of stories titled “Family Attractions.”
DID YOU KNOW?
With winter coming, The Library has expanded its hours, staying open until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. It’s open until 6 p.m. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays.
It will be closed Friday, Oct. 15, for in-staff training.