Monday August 15, 7pm – Non-Fiction
Mary Westra author of After the Murder of My Son ($14.95 North Star)
In the summer of 2001, Peter Westra was 24 years old, gregarious, handsome, active, a successful young investment banker working in New York City and London. Dedicated to his family and friends, he had flown home to Minnesota for his grandmother’s 90th birthday party, then hopped on a plane to Atlantic City to meet up with his Middlebury College buddies for a friend’s bachelor party. Just 15 hours later, he was dead. Kicked to death on a sidewalk by bouncers outside a nightclub. This is his mother’s story of the day her life was shattered and the intimate retelling of how she put the shards back together again, to save herself and her family
Tremendous … Blunt and honest. Compelling story-telling. Part mystery and part memoir. A beautiful, powerful tribute to a family s love. –Tim Rumsey, author of Pictures from a Trip
In Mary Westra s story of heartbreak and hope, all of us can see the fragility, the strength, and the love that informs our own lives. This is a very special book. –Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture, columnist for The Wall Street Journal
The details of Peter s murder are chilling. But the years long pursuit of justice proves downright maddening. What redeems this tragedy and makes this book a page-turner of a story is Mary Westra s sustained and ultimately successful effort to discuss much more than her son s murder … [She] has given readers a living, breathing, authentic, gutsy, and unforgettable demonstration of how to endure and survive the unthinkable. –Stephen Schwandt, author of Siren Song and The Last Goodie
In Mary Westra s story of heartbreak and hope, all of us can see the fragility, the strength, and the love that informs our own lives. This is a very special book. –Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture, columnist for The Wall Street Journal
The details of Peter s murder are chilling. But the years long pursuit of justice proves downright maddening. What redeems this tragedy and makes this book a page-turner of a story is Mary Westra s sustained and ultimately successful effort to discuss much more than her son s murder … [She] has given readers a living, breathing, authentic, gutsy, and unforgettable demonstration of how to endure and survive the unthinkable. –Stephen Schwandt, author of Siren Song and The Last Goodie
