Writers in the Loft Presents Claire Messud with her Latest Book THE BURNING GIRL

The Music Hall Loft welcomes to the stage New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor's Children and The Woman Upstairs, Claire Messud, who will talk about her latest work, THE BURNING GIRL. It follows two girls, Julia and Cassie, who, despite their very different family lives, have been friends since nursery school. But as the pair enter adolescence, their paths diverge. Julia, supported by her parents, aspires to become an actress and embraces opportunities at their school, while Cassie, raised by a single mother, focuses her energy on clothes and parties and dates Julia's longtime crush. When Cassie takes off in search of her real father, Julia realizes that she is the only person who can rescue her friend. Claire Messud, one of our finest novelists, is as accomplished at weaving a compelling fictional world as she is at asking the big questions: To what extent can we know ourselves and others? What are the stories we create to comprehend our lives and relationships? Brilliantly mixing fable and coming-of-age tale, THE BURNING GIRL gets to the heart of these matters in an absolutely irresistible way.

When/Where: Tuesday, September 12, at 7 pm

The Music Hall Loft

131 Congress Street

Portsmouth, NH 03801

Tickets: The ticket package for Writers in the Loft: Claire Messud on Tuesday, September 12, at 7 pm, is $40 ($38 members). In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of THE BURNING GIRL ($25.95 hardcover), a bar beverage, author presentation, Q+A, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased online at TheMusicHall.org, over the phone at 603.436.2400 or in person at the B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut Street.

About the Author: Claire Messud is a recipient of Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The author of five previous works of fiction including her most recent novel, The Woman Upstairs, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her family.

Akin to The Music Hall's anchor literary series, Writers on a New England Stage, Writers in the Loft features bestselling authors in a smaller, more intimate space. The series brings audiences today's top authors, the best of fiction and nonfiction, and award-winners across categories. The evening package includes a reserved seat and bar beverage, author presentation and Q+A, a copy of the book, and a meet-and-greet book signing with the featured writer.

Series Sponsor: RMC Research Corporation

Contributing Partner: The University of New Hampshire

Season Sponsors: Carey & Giampa Realtors; Portwalk Place; The River House restaurant

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named "best performing arts venue" by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

Web: www.TheMusicHall.org | Twitter: @MusicHall | Facebook: /musichall | YouTube: /musichallnh

PRAISE for THE BURNING GIRL

"If you love when a favorite writer risks new narrative ground, Claire Messud nails it." -Elle Magazine

"Spectacular!" -Glamour

"Messud shines a tender gaze on her protagonists and sustains an elegiac tone as she conveys the volatile emotions of adolescent behavior and the dawning of female vulnerability. . . . [T]his novel is haunting and emotionally gripping." -Publishers Weekly

"Messud's entrancing, gorgeously incisive coming-of-age drama astutely tracks the sharpening perceptions of an exceptionally eloquent young woman navigating heartbreak and regret and realizing that one can never fathom 'the wild, unknowable interior lives' of others, not even someone you love." - Booklist, starred review

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