BRATTLEBORO — Author Mary Ann Hooper will read and discuss her book Across America and Back - Retracing My Great Grandparents' Remarkable Journey, recently published by the University of Nevada Press.
Hooper will give a short presentation with photos and read from her book, followed by questions and discussion, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at Brooks Memorial Library.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available. Her book will be available to buy and she will be happy to sign copies.
Mary Ann Hooper grew up on Sunset Lake Road in Brattleboro and her family was prominent in the town in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Her grandfather, Howard C. Rice, was publisher of The Brattleboro Daily Reformer and her father, John S. Hooper, was editor and then publisher of the Reformer from 1950 to 1971.
Her book is a memoir based on diaries and documents handed down in her family and a travelogue of two family journeys: her great grandparents' transcontinental train trip to California in 1871-72; and her retracing of their route in 2008.
“Filled with rich details of time, place, and culture, Mary Ann's compelling narrative is also a thoughtful account of how the American West has changed over the last 150 years,” according to a news release.
Hooper is deeply concerned about the environment and supports John Muir's philosophy of celebrating rather than conquering nature, and her book returns to this theme time and again. She also treats readers to her entertaining encounters on the trip and escapades on her folding bike.
A recent Keene Sentinel reviewer wrote Mary Ann Hooper's debut book “reads with the polished prose of an experienced traveller.”
For more information, call 802-254-5290 or visit www.brookslibraryvt.org.