THOMASTON — Maine author Bill Roorbach will preview his latest novel, Lucky Turtle, in a live talk, Thursday, May 11, at 6 p.m., at the Thomaston Public Library. The Cushing Public Library is co-sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

Roorbach, who lives in western Maine, draws on his love of the outdoors and knowledge of human emotions to create a romantic heroine, Cindra Zoeller, a sixteen-year-old girl from Massachusetts enrolled in a reform camp in Montana following her involvement in an armed robbery. The chemistry between her and Lucky,  a mysterious camp employee, is instant and profound. The pair escape together into the wilderness to create an idyllic life far from the reach of the law, living off their resounding love, Lucky’s vast knowledge of the wilderness and help from friends.

They can run from the outside world for only so long, and the consequences of their naïve fantasy of a future together—and circumstances shaped by skin color—will keep them apart for decades. Cindra becomes trapped in a stultifyingly suburban relationship, where she is both cosseted and controlled by a man who claims to be her rescuer. But for Cindra there will never be another Lucky, and she dreams of one day finding him, the only man she’s ever fully trusted.

Roorbach grew up in New England and after college enrolled in what he called  his “writing apprenticeship,” band member, bartender, carpenter, plumber and handyman. Following a 1990 degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts, he embarked on a distinguished academic career, including posts at the University of Maine at Farmington, Ohio State University, Colby College and College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

After graduation from Columbia, he sold his first book, Summers with Juliet, and began publishing fiction and nonfiction in magazines and journals. His first novel was The Smallest Color (2001), followed by Life Among Giants, which won the Maine Literary Award for fiction in 2005. In 2004, Thomaston’s Tilbury House published A Place on Water, written with poet Wesley McNair and essayist Robert Kimber. 

“Lucky Turtle has already received enthusiastic responses from such important literary figures as Lily King and Andrea Barrett,” said the release. 

For further information, call Wendy Roberts at 691-0833 or email wrobertsmaine63@gmail.com.