Covington, Va. (VR) – Author and Covington native Muffin Padgett Gerler will hold a reading and signing for her new book, The Girl Who Feared Trains, at the Alleghany Highlands Regional Library. The event will take place on Tuesday, October 11th at 6:30 pm in the W.N. “John” Rice Community Room.
Gerler, who grew up in Alleghany County and is a graduate of Alleghany County High School, will be talking with patrons and signing copies of her book. She is an award-winning author of six published novels and a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.
The Girl Who Feared Trains is a work of historical fiction based on Gerler’s mother’s childhood. From the book’s cover, “Over one hundred years before COVID-19, the flu pandemic of 1918 sweeps through Georgetown, South Carolina, claiming the life of young, pregnant Alice Virginia Freeman Pow. Alice’s little girls, three-year-old Tante and five-year-old Dixie, board the train for Savannah, Georgia to live with their grandmother, Aunt Sissy, leaving their beloved father alone in Georgetown. When, after seven years, Daddy remarries, Tante and Dixie return to their father and his new wife, losing yet another mother, Aunt Sissy. Shortly after the girls’ arrival, The Great Depression engulfs the country, followed closely by Daddy’s sudden and tragic illness. Tante equates train rides with tragedy and loss, but, despite the heartache of separation and the uncertainty that awaits at the end of each journey, Tante recalls a childhood of family who loves her.”
Copies of The Girl Who Feared Trains will be available for purchase at the book signing. For more information about this author visit or other AHRL programs, call the library at 962-3321. The Alleghany Highlands Regional Library is located at 406 W. Riverside Street in Covington.
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