Catherine Coles
Coles’ Notes
One Book, One L&A, our community reading program, has been on hiatus since 2020 as COVID restrictions prevented us from hosting any large-scale events. This year, we are thrilled to announce that we’ll be relaunching the program with the featured book The Last Grand Duchess.
The Last Grand Duchess is the latest historical novel by Bryn Turnbull. You can reserve this title at your local branch of the County of L&A Libraries or online at www.CountyLibrary.ca. Individuals, book clubs, organizations, employers – everyone – is invited to take up the challenge of the One Book, One Community initiative and organize their own way of “getting on the same page” by reading this engaging, well-researched novel. The Last Grand Duchess, which was just released last month, has already received a ton of media attention. For instance, Chatelaine has declared it one of the top five books to read this winter and Indigo included it among their list of top 10 most anticipated books of 2022.
The Last Grand Duchess tells the captivating yet tragic story of Olga Romanov, the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas and sister to Anastasia. This character-driven story is told solely from Olga’s perspective, alternating between two timelines: the years leading up to the Revolution and the years following the Revolution prior to the family’s execution.
The OBOC program will culminate with an author event featuring author Bryn Turnbull. It will be held in October during Canadian Library Month, on Sunday, October 2nd at the library’s Amherstview Branch. Bryn Turnbull’s is known for her meticulously researched historical novels that succeed at breathing life into lesser known (yet endlessly fascinating) women who existed at the periphery of major world events. Her previous bestselling novel The Woman Before Wallis told the story of Thelma Morgan, sister to Gloria Vanderbilt and the woman who captured the heart of Edward VIII before he fell in love with Wallis Simpson, for whom he eventually abdicated the throne. Fun fact: while Bryn Turnbull lives in Toronto, she also has a local connection as she has family residing in Napanee.
You can reserve your copy of The Last Grand Duchess (or The Woman Before Wallis) in a variety of formats from the County of Lennox & Addington Libraries at CountyLibrary.ca.