Left Bank Books, in downtown Belfast, invites the public to a free talk by Catherine Newman on Tuesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m., to celebrate the paperback release of her New York Times bestselling novel Sandwich.

Newman’s first novel—also an NYT bestseller— was We All Want Impossible Things. She also writes the Substack newsletter Crone Sandwich, regularly contributes to numerous major print and online publications, and was the etiquette columnist for Real Simple for ten years. She’s written two parenting memoirs, Catastrophic Happiness, and Waiting for Birdy, as well as the middle-grade novel One Mixed-Up Night.

In Sandwich, Newman writes about three generations of family who descend on the Cape Cod summer cottage they have rented for more than twenty years. Mom Rocky, smacked by menopausal mood swings, feels the pressure of being sandwiched between her adult kids and her rapidly aging parents. A chain of events transports her emotionally into the past where secrets she has kept hidden for too long unfold.

Newman writes that, in Sandwich, she wanted to write “about the profound pleasure of parenting grown kids, even as it is tinged with an almost unbearable kind of nostalgia. I wanted to write about the deep and evolving love for one’s aging parents. Also, cats. The beach and sky. Seafood.”

At Amherst College, Newman is the Department Coordinator of Creative Writing that offers courses in fiction, poetry, playwriting, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms and translation, providing opportunities for students to further their writing and connect with other writers beyond the classroom. She holds a PhD in Literature from UC Santa Cruz.

Reservations for the event can be made by calling 207.338.9009 or emailing: info@leftbankbookshop.com. Ample free parking is available in front of the shop and in an adjacent city lot.