"Cover of Snow" Author at Words on Friday

Author Jenny Milchman will be at Words Bookstore in Maplewood on Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. reading from her literary thriller, "Cover of Snow."

Words describes the novel on its website:

"...a remarkable debut, a gripping tale of suspense in the tradition of Gillian Flynn, Chris Bohjalian, and Nancy Pickard. Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondacks, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered.  Her husband, Brendan, has committed suicide. Beneath the soft cover of snow lies a powerful conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep its presence unknown… and its darkest secrets hidden."

Milchman was inspired to write the book by a "formative" childhood experience when her babysitter confessed that he planned to kill himself. Milchman told her parents and the babysitter was found and saved.

“In years to come I felt terrified that the decision had been left in my eight year old hands,” said Milchman in a press release. 

The book has garnered accolades from authors Laura Lippman (“the highest praise I can bestow") and Lee Child ( “everything a great suspense novel should be—tense, emotional, mysterious and satisfying.”)

Milchman, a New Jersey resident, is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, a holiday celebrated across the country and in four foreign countries by more than 350 independent bookstores. 

“We need to nurture in kids a deep engagement with text, minus any distractions, and we need to show them a world where every store has its own unique identity,” Milchman said. “Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day is a celebration of locavorism, a return to Main Street, and entails giving a child the tactile, interpersonal and physical experience of being in a bookstore.” 

Milchman also co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters at Watching booksellers in Montclair.