Lo Patrick

EATONTON, Ga. —From the acclaimed author of “The Floating Girls”comes the hot-off-the-press “The Night the River Wept,” a contemporary Georgia story about a small-town, stay-at-home wife who suffers a tragic miscarriage and finds herself completely lost—until a job volunteering at the local police station becomes the opportunity to investigate the county’s most notorious cold case.

Georgia Writers Museum will host Lo Patrick as the Meet the Author presenter Aug. 7 at the Plaza Arts Center, at 7p.m.Doors open at 6:30p.m. Tickets are $40 and will include Chef Brent’s soon to be famous Deck River BBQ sliders and sides.

Arlene has lived in a small town on the edge of nowhere Georgia her whole life. Now married to her long-time high school sweetheart, Tommy, Arlene is itching to start a family and become the mother she always dreamed of being. But that’s proving more difficult than she thought, and Arlene is desperate to find something to do to keep her mind off things. And get some distance from her husband, who is increasingly getting on her nerves.

She seizes the change of pace that comes with taking a job at her local police precinct. To cope with her boredom on the job, she starts poking around old case files and unearths a cold case, the Deck River Tragedy: the murder of three children, followed days later by the prime suspect’s suicide. Convinced this is a case that can be solved, Arlene recruits the suspect’s prickly, investigative aunt and the station’s strait-laced, tight-lipped receptionist, and reopens the case.

“The Night the River Wept is a page-turning exploration of small-town secrets and the far-reaching effects of tragedy,” wrote New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey. “With wit and wisdom, Lo Patrick weaves an unforgettable story of heartbreak, love, and second chances―and proves herself as a compelling new voice in southern fiction.”

Bestselling author Beth Duke described the book as “An intriguing mystery that will have you turning pages until the wee hours of the morning.”

Patrick is a former lawyer and current novelist. She grew up outside Atlanta before going to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. She remained in L.A. for seven years where she was a concert promoter, model booker, and musician before eventually leaving L.A. and attending law school at the University of Miami. She graduated magna cum laude, began writing, and moved back to Georgia, where she lives with her husband and two children.

“The Floating Girls” was her debut novel and was a finalist for the prestigious Townsend Prize for Fiction. It was named one of the 2023 Books All Georgians Should Read by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Georgia Center for the Book.

The Georgia Writers Museum is located at 109 S. Jefferson Avenue in Eatonton. For more information call 706-991-5119 or visit www.georgiawritersmuseum.org.