Hybrid Program: Crystal King, author of The Happiness Collector

To register, click HERE or READ MORE. The zoom invite will be included in the email confirming your registration. Crystal King is back with a new book! We hope you'll come & meet her! Back before covid, our library hosted Crystal. Crystal had just published Feast of Sorrow , which was set amongst the scandal, wealth, and upstairs-downstairs politics of a Roman family, Crystal King's seminal debut features the man who inspired the world's oldest cookbook and the ambition that led to his destruction. We hosted Crystal again a year later to discuss her next book : THE CHEF'S SECRET -which is a fictional retelling of the life of Bartolomeo Scappi, who lived in sixteenth century Rome. When his cookbook, L'Opera, was published in 1570, it became the world's best-selling cookbook for the next two hundred years. We're happy to have learned Crystal is still writing & have invited her back to hear about what she's been up to & hear about her newest book The Happiness Collector ! Crystal will be here in person so we hope you'll come & meet her. We will zoom her live for anyone who would like to zoom the program. Either way, please register so that we may plan accordingly. About the book: After losing her book deal and her academic position, historian Aida Reale needs a new career, and fast. After all, she and her fiancé, Graham, have a wedding to pay for. So when a friend recommends her for an extremely high-paying position at a company called MODA, it feels like the perfect stroke of luck. And with a move to Italy and a breathtaking palazzo included, how could she say no? Unlike Crystal's other books which are historical fiction, The Happiness Collector is a stunning contemporary fantasy novel. After moving to Italy, Aida stars working for MODA but strange things start happening. Come to the program & learn more! About the author: I'm a novelist, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert. My writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. I have taught writing, creativity and social media at UMass Boston, Boston University, Mass College of Art, Harvard Extension School, and Grub Street. I'm a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and former co-editor of the (now defunct) online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review. I received my M.A. in critical and creative thinking from UMass Boston, where I developed a series of exercises and writing prompts to help fiction writers in medias res. I live in Boston but grew up in the Pacific Northwest (Spokane, Seattle, Boise). My husband, my shining star, is a French-Acadian/Italian who is a fantastic chef and visual artist. I also work in the world of social media, AI, marketing, and community management.