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Best-selling 'Water for Elephants' author comes to Naperville with a new book

Sara Gruen - whose best-selling novel "Water for Elephants" sold 5 million copies, was turned into a 2011 movie and now will get Broadway musical treatment - is coming to Naperville with her new book, "At the Water's Edge."

In celebration of the book, Gruen visits at 7 p.m. Monday, April 6, at North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. Moderating will be Renee Rosen, author of "What the Lady Wants" and "Dollface." Tickets to the presentation, question-and-answer session and book-signing are required and available with the purchase of "At the Water's Edge" from Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville. The book will be released Tuesday, March 31.

In this new novel, Gruen again demonstrates her talent for creating spellbinding period pieces. In "At the Water's Edge," she tells the gripping and poignant story of a privileged young woman's moral and sexual awakening as she experiences the devastations of World War II in the Scottish Highlands.

Madeline Hyde, a young socialite from Philadelphia, reluctantly follows her husband and their best friend to the tiny village of Drumnadrochit in search of the Loch Ness monster at the same time a very real monster, Hitler, wages war against the Allied Forces. Despite German warplanes flying overhead and scarce food rations (and even scarcer stockings), Maddie makes discoveries about the larger world and about herself. The unlikely friendships she develops with the villagers open her eyes not only to the dark forces that exist around her, but also to the beauty and surprising possibilities as well.

Gruen is the No. 1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of "Water for Elephants," "Ape House," "Riding Lessons," and "Flying Changes." Her works have been translated into 43 languages and have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. "Water for Elephants" was adapted into a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz in 2011.

She lives in western North Carolina with her husband and three sons, along with their dogs, cats, horses, birds and a goat.

For information about the Gruen book-signing event, call Anderson's Bookshop at (630) 355-2665 or visit andersonsbookshop.com.

If you go

What: Best-selling author Sara Gruen discusses her new book, "At the Water's Edge"

When: 7 p.m. Monday, April 6

Where: North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville

Cost: Tickets available with purchase of book at Anderson's Bookshop

Info: (630) 355-2665 or andersonsbookshop.com

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