Best-selling author will discuss new novel in local stops Monday in Medina, Tuesday in Le Roy

Press Release, Author’s Note

Ally Condie photo by Erin Summerill. The author will discuss her new novel Monday at Author’s Note in Medina.

MEDINA – Author’s Note, Medina’s independent book store, will welcome No. 1 New York Times Bestselling author Ally Condie at 6:30 p.m. Monday, to discuss and sign her new novel The Only Girl in Town.

Condie, the author of the mega-bestselling Matched trilogy, will also discuss her novel at Woodward Memorial Library in Le Roy at 6 p.m. Tuesday. In addition, she will visit several area schools.

The Only Girl in Town is a contemporary young adult novel with a fractured-reality twist, according to Author’s Note owner Julie Berry, also a New York Times Bestselling author.

For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since the summer before her senior year. Once, she had Alex to be her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross-country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam, who told her she was everything.

Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town has disappeared. No family. No Alex or Sydney. No Sam. July’s only chance at unraveling the mystery of their disappearance is a series of objects, each a reminder of the people she loved most. And a mysterious message, “Get them back.”

Though never named outright as depression, it’s clear from the journey through her recent history that July is struggling with loneliness, loss and a sense of isolation that has left her feeling like an outsider, separated from others.

National Book Award-winning author Robin Beneway describes The Only Girl in Town  as “an eerily beautiful and lyrical story of loss, grief and how quickly relationships can change, while also changing us.”

Yamile Saied Mendez, the Pura Belpre award-winning author of Fume, A Reese’s Book Club selection, calls it “fast paced, unputdownable and full of heart and complicated emotions. As soon as I reached the end, I turned back to the beginning to catch the clues I had missed as I raced through the pages. An unforgettable story.”

Condie’s visit is part of a promotional tour sponsored by Penguin Randon House, which brings her to the region in part because her novel is set in a fictional town drawn from her experiences living in upstate New York when she was a young mom.

In addition to authoring the No. 1 New York Times Best-selling Matched trilogy and its companion novel, The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe, Condie is also the author of Summerlost, an Edgar Award winner.

The Monday evening event at Author’s Note is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend, signed books can be ordered at www.authorsnote.com. Contact Author’s Note at (585) 798-3642 for more information.

The Tuesday evening appearance at Woodward Memorial Library is also free, but registration is requested by calling (585) 768-8300 or logging on to www.woodwardmemoriallibrary.libcal.com.