Virtual: Katherine Sherbrooke with Marjan Kamali, Leaving Coy's Hill

An unforgettable story about the triumphs and travails of a woman unwilling to play by the rules, based on the the remarkable life of pioneering feminist and abolitionist Lucy Stone. 

Born on a farm in 1818, Lucy Stone dreamt of extraordinary things for a girl of her time, like continuing her education beyond the eighth grade and working for the abolitionist cause, and of ordinary things, such as raising a family of her own. But when she learns that the Constitution affords no rights to married women, she declares that she will never marry and dedicates her life to fighting for change.

At a time when it is considered promiscuous for women to speak in public, Lucy risks everything for the anti-slavery movement, her powerful oratory mesmerizing even her most ardent detractors as she rapidly becomes a household name. And when she begins to lecture on the “woman question,” she inspires a young Susan B. Anthony to join the movement. But life as a crusader is a lonely one.

When Henry Blackwell, a dashing and forward-thinking man, proposes a marriage of equals, Lucy must reconcile her desire for love and children with her public persona and the legal perils of marriage she has long railed against. And when a wrenching controversy pits Stone and Anthony against each other, Lucy makes a decision that will impact her legacy forever.

Based on true events, Leaving Coy’s Hill is a timeless story of women’s quest for personal and professional fulfillment within society’s stubborn constraints. And as an abolitionist and women’s rights activist fighting for the future of a deeply divided country, Lucy Stone’s quest to live a life on her own terms is as relevant as ever. In this “propulsive,” “astonishing,” and “powerful” story, Katherine Sherbrooke brings to life a true American heroine for a new generation.

Katherine Sherbrooke is the author of Finding Home, a family memoir, and Fill the Sky (2016), a finalist for the Mary Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction, the Foreward Indies Book of the Year and won a 2017 Independent Press Award. An alumna of Dartmouth College and Stanford Business School, she is currently the Chair of the Board of GrubStreet, and lives outside the city with her family.

Marjan Kamali is the author of The Stationery Shop, a Publisher’s Weekly and Boston Globe bestseller and one of NPR’s best books of the year — and Together Tea, a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. Her novels have been translated into a dozen languages and her debut was adapted for the stage. Marjan graduated from U.C. Berkeley and has an MBA from Columbia University and an MFA from NYU. She teaches writing at GrubStreet.