Tag loss

The cover depicts an Italian town on the coastline against a pale orange sky, with the cliffs overlooking a sky-blue sea and the green hills in the distance.

Meet Rebecca Serle, Author of One Italian Summer

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Author Rebecca Serle wears a pink floral slip dress and sits in the corner of a beige sofa.

Sun, Mar 12
2 – 4 pm
Miller Branch & online
In partnership with Columbia Inspired magazine
Register here for the in-person event and here for the online event.

“[A] magical trip worth taking.” — Associated Press

The New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years returns with a powerful novel about the transformational love between mothers and daughters set on the breathtaking Amalfi Coast.

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers, and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.

Rebecca Serle’s next great love story is here, and this time it’s between a mother and a daughter. With her signature “heartbreaking, redemptive, and authentic” (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) prose, Serle has crafted a transcendent novel about how we move on after loss, and how the people we love never truly leave us.

The cover depicts an Italian town on the coastline against a pale orange sky, with the cliffs overlooking a sky-blue sea and the green hills in the distance.

One Italian Summer is available from HCLS in print, as an audiobook on CD, and as an e-book and an e-audiobook from Libby/OverDrive.

After the presentation, you can purchase her book and have it have it autographed (while supplies last). For those attending virtually, books are available to purchase online from The Last Word Bookstore.

Rebecca Serle discusses her book with Anika Baty-Mills.

Rebecca Serle is an author and television writer who lives in New York and Los Angeles. Serle co-developed the hit TV adaptation of her YA series Famous in Love, and is also the author of In Five Years and The Dinner List, and YA novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. She received her MFA from the New School in New York, NY.

Anika Baty-Mills is the publisher and owner of Columbia Inspired magazine. Columbia Inspired magazine is a digital publication that provides a safe space for each and every reader to feel seen, heard, and cared for. Its mission is to help readers create, implement, and nurture their own version of a healthy lifestyle.  For the last 18 years, Anika and her family have lived, worked, and played here in Howard County and she is proud to be bringing the community together one click at a time.

In partnership with Columbia Inspired magazine and Prince George’s County Memorial Library System.

Please register for the in-person event or the online event with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.

The book cover depicts an illustration of a woman in pink sweater and blue jeans dancing with the translucent, ghostly image of her mother, who is represented by a gravestone at their feet which reads "Mom, 1961-2009."

Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder

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The book cover depicts an illustration of a woman in pink sweater and blue jeans dancing with the translucent, ghostly image of her mother, who is represented by a gravestone at their feet which reads "Mom, 1961-2009."

by Carmen J.

I hate to state the obvious, but an unfortunate fact of life is that we will gradually lose the ones we love. In this year alone, I’ve had the reality check of all reality checks as I said goodbye to my sister-in-law, my daughter’s great grandmother, my best friend from high school’s parents, my best friend from my first job out of college, a former colleague (RIP Joe McHugh), and two icons: Kobe Bryant and Chadwick Boseman. Yes, 2020, I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please?

In Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir, the author writes about her experience losing her mother when she was 19 and dealing with the 10-year aftermath of grief. The writing and illustrations are insightful, poignant, and humorous at the same time. The author’s mother died of cancer and the author vividly describes the myriad of emotions caregivers endure, so readers can connect to her story on many levels.

Like the author, I lost both my father and sister to cancer, and I found myself nodding in heartfelt agreement at many of Feder’s descriptions of losing a parent and enduring the magnified heartache of cancer. In particular, she captured the reality of the endless trips to the hospital for treatments and cancer’s physical and emotional tolls on the ill and their families.

As a reader, I connected with Feder’s reflections on how death can be so difficult to talk about for some. No one really knows the exact right thing to say when you hear that someone has died. It’s awkward and uncomfortable and unexpected, much like death itself. I laughed at the author’s inflections of humor and her ability to find humor even in her darkest days.

I’m lucky I still have a living mother. As we celebrated her 80th birthday this year, my thoughts trickled to the thought of what life may look like some day without her. I hate that image. As Feder highlights in the book, I, too, consider my mom to be a rock star and an undeniable force in my life. More time is always what we want with those we love and, selfishly, it’s never enough.

Put this book in the hands of someone who is hurting from recent loss, has someone succumbing to illness, or anyone in need of finding the right words of comfort.

Carmen J is a teen instructor at HCLS East Columbia. Among her favorite things are great books, all things 80s, fall weather, Halloween, and pumpkin spice everything.