Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is our old friend Liz Moore whose fourth novel Long Bright River published by Riverhead is just arriving on our shelves and I should tell you that Liz will be appearing at The Hilton Garden Inn on January 9th at 7PM. The Hilton is right here in Exton, 720 Eagleview Blvd East (although I don’t know why they call it East, just confusing and a typical township move), just fifteen minutes from West Chester and just past the Downingtown interchange of the turnpike, across from Eagleview and my bookstore. In fact we have two hotel buses that can take you from the hotel to the bookshop either before or after the event. Liz knows how to get here since she has been here many times for signings and her writing workshops. You can go to Eventbrite or our website to get tickets.

Anyway as many of you know, this is Liz’ fourth novel (in 12 years). The first was The Words Of Every Song, Next came Heft, an amazing book that Liz wrote out of left field. I had never read anything like it. That was our first interview. She came and signed then and then set up her Palumbo fiction writing workshop here and at other local bookshops. And she still is. But not here! Her next novel was The Unseen World and we visited again with Liz after that and also a second interview. I know I’m kind of bragging here but it has been such a pleasure to get to know her and her family and her work.

Liz’ work has also appeared in Tin House (sadly no longer with us) the NYT and she is the winner of many prestigious prizes and awards.

Liz teaches at Temple.

So—-Long Bright River is another one of Liz’ shapeshifting, genre busting novels. This one a psychological thriller, with cops, murderers, dysfunctional families and anguished accounts of tragic opioid abuse, much of it enumerated in the book’s beginning and end. I’ll leave it there.

The difference as in all of Liz’ books is that there is something here, something that I have a hard time articulating for all of her books, that is different. Can’t put my finger on it but it kind of changes everything and I can’t say why.