Cavalier House Books will be hosting New York Times bestselling author Julie Cantrell along with specialists in the area of human trafficking in a panel discussion about her new novel The Feathered Bone on Saturday, February 27 beginning at 10am at the Livingston Parish District Courthouse located at 20300 Government Boulevard in Livingston. This is the kickoff event for the Livingston Parish Public Library’s new group read program “Livingston Parish Reads Together,” a year-long community-wide event featuring highly-anticipated novel The Feathered Bone by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julie Cantrell.
Released on January 26, The Feathered Bone has already been chosen as a 2016 Okra pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance which honors the best of southern literature. A reading and signing will follow the discussion with books available for purchase.
Julie Cantrell is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She has served as editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and is the recipient of many awards for her previous two novels, Into the Free and When Mountains Move. The Feathered Bone is Julie Cantrell’s first novel to be set in her home state of Louisiana and, as a Walker native, she is being met with a great deal of community support.
The novel takes place in and around Livingston parish and is a story of seeking hope and purpose in the wake of tragedy and loss. It is told through the eyes of two women who confront the darkest corners of humanity with quiet and unquestionable faith. The novel centers around the aftermath of a young girl who was abducted from a crowded restaurant while on a school field trip to New Orleans.
Julie Cantrell’s research for the novel put her in touch with local law enforcement officers who combat the problems of human trafficking daily as well as representatives of Trafficking Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing public awareness of human trafficking. The author’s wish is that her novel will help to stop human trafficking by raising awareness of the issue in the community. To that end the scheduled panel discussion will feature Livingston parish sheriff Jason Ard, a representative from the state police human trafficking task force, and Emily Morrow-Chenevert and George Mills of Trafficking Hope and Hope House. Each of these panelists offers a deeply informed view of human trafficking and will speak on what they have witnessed and what the community needs to know.
"Feathers--no matter what size or shape or color--are all the same, if you think about them. They're soft. Delicate. But the secret thing about feathers is . . . they are very strong."