Local author Martha Tod Dudman will discuss her latest novel, Sunrise and the Real World (2023), at the Ellsworth Public Library on May 8 at 5:30 PM. This is a free and open-to-the-public event. Books will be available for purchase and signing, cash or check only. Please register: 207.667.6363 or info@ellsworthlibrary.net.

As May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, this event serves as an opportunity to not only highlight current works of literature that are set in Maine but also to engage in meaningful conversations about mental health and well-being within our community.

Sunrise and the Real World is a twisty, character-driven coming-of-age mystery partially set at Sunrise Academy, a camp for troubled teenagers in the 1980s. Lorraine, the protagonist of this story and camp staff member quickly finds herself absorbed in a world very distant from the idyllic lobsters-and-lighthouses fairy tale she had always associated with Maine. Years later, disheartened and battered by life, Lorraine is unexpectedly drawn back to that world to confront the person she was, the choices she made, and the bitter ghosts that still haunt her.