Virtual author events continue Nov. 9-10

Browseabout Books and the Lewes Public Library will offer two live, interactive virtual author events.

Southern mystery novelist Christopher Swann will discuss his domestic thriller “Never Turn Back” at 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 9. The story is about family, vengeance and atonement.

To commemorate Veterans Day and honor the memory of those who served, L. Annette Binder, author of “The Vanishing Sky,” and Alexander Starrit, author of “We Germans,” will appear in a joint presentation at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10.

“The Vanishing Sky” is a World War II novel as seen through a German lens, a story of the irreparable damage of war on the home front and one family's participation – involuntary, unseen, or direct – in a dangerous regime. Binder was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a small child. “The Vanishing Sky,” her first novel, is inspired by events from her family history.

“We Germans” is written as a letter from a German soldier to his grandson recounting the terrors of war on the Eastern Front and a postwar ordinary life spent in search of atonement. The letter is at once a thrilling story of adventure and a questing rumination on the moral ambiguity of war.

Starritt grew up in Scotland in a cross-cultural household, part Scottish and part German, speaking both English and German fluently. Starritt’s grandfather, a German, was drafted into the Wehrmacht, fought in Russia and spent several years in captivity. He later escaped across the wall to West Germany with his wife and child, Starritt’s mother, who became a part of the vibrant West Berlin scene through the end of the Cold War.

These online events are offered through Zoom and are free to the public. To receive information on how to join these meetings, go to lewes.lib.de.us or browseaboutbooks.com.

The featured books, as well as signed copies, are for sale at Browseabout Books and available to borrow through the Delaware Libraries system.