Join Journalist Ruth Bass to hear about her fifth novel, The Triangle, a Tale of Love and Death, the story of two older men and what happens when one finds out that he’s been sharing the much younger Sylvia with another man. Inspired by the author’s five years as a police and court reporter for The Berkshire Eagle, the story focuses on the 35-ish Sylvia who depends on one man for rent, cash and groceries and worries that she might be falling in love with the other, who treats her like a lady. Well-read, not well-educated, she’s been around and is still a little naïve about the real world. And then she learns that, in a fairly small city, it’s hard to keep secrets.
The talk will be followed by a book signing.
All are welcome and no registration is required.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
As a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist, Ruth Bass has put real people in print for a long time. She was the first female police reporter at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, an uncommon job for a woman at the time. After leaving her job as Sunday editor of The Berkshire Eagle, she turned to fiction with a series about a hard-scrabble New England family in the last part of the 19th century, starting with the well-received “Sarah’s Daughter”. That series was inspired by her grandmother’s loss of her mother when she was a teenager and the ensuing problems of an alcoholic father, younger siblings to raise, farm work, taking charge of the household and managing school. In addition to four books fictionalizing her grandmother (and her great-grandmother), she is author of eight herbal cookbooks and continues to write a weekly column for The Eagle.
She has won many awards for writing and editing and was inducted into the New England Press Association’s Hall of Fame for achievement in community journalism. A graduate of Bates College with a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, she also has an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Westfield State University.
With her late husband, theater critic and novelist Milton Bass, she has three adult children and six grandchildren. Her novels always have a character who likes words and often reflect her fascination with bird-watching. Her 20 acres of hillside land caters to her interest in flower and vegetable gardening, including the effort of dealing with clay-ey soil and a back that doesn’t always bend well. She also enjoys golf, knitting, reading, cooking and photography.