That Which Binds Us: Book Talk and Signing

Talk 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. | Book Signing to Follow
Head to the CMA for a literary program featuring Columbia author Cathy Rigg and her book, That Which Binds Us, a finalist for the 2025 Forward Indies Book of the Year in historical fiction. Grab a drink from the First Thursday on Main bar, buy a book, and join Rigg and Deputy Director Joelle Ryan-Cook for a reading, conversation, and some mountain music from special guests. Free as part of Free First Thursday at the CMA.
Cathy Rigg was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia, where her people on her mother’s side go back seven generations. After college at Clemson University, she moved to Columbia and founded brand marketing firm Riggs Partners. Her debut novel, That Which Binds Us (Keylight Books), was published in 2025 and recently named a 2025 Forward INDIES Book of the Year (historical fiction) finalist. Rigg’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Still: The Journal; Women Speak: An Anthology of the Women of Appalachia Project; litmosphere: journal of Charlotte Lit; These Mosaics poetry anthology; Clinch Mountain Review, and more. She and her husband, Tim Monetti, divide their time between home in Columbia and Burnsville, North Carolina, where they stare at the view and obsess over the bears on a ridge high above Asheville.
About That Which Binds Us:
In 1854, on the lawless western edge of Virginia, Elizabeth Young stands among the throngs and watches as her beloved uncle is hanged for murder. There is more to this spectacle than meets the eye, and she vows she’ll get to the bottom, she’ll uncover truths, then she’ll leave these godforsaken mountains forever.
But fate has another idea, as into her life come three strangers with dreams and secrets of their own. Their lives become inextricably linked. Then in marches the Civil War.
That Which Binds Us is a broad work of historical fiction with a soul that is really much more: a study in lineage and loyalty, and values instilled by generations; the heat when these rub together amid extraordinary circumstances; what happens when seemingly opposing cultures find more common ground than they’d imagined? That Which Binds Us is a novel that celebrates our best and explores our worst, that serves to remind us across continents and cultures and generations, love holds the greatest power of all.
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Can we assist you with accommodations for accessibility during your visit? Please let us know at 803-799-2810 or info@columbiamuseum.org.