Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Reading Public Library Community Room (A & B)
From the Reading Public Library website:
Join us for an evening with bestselling Massachusetts author Juliette Fay, as she shares her brand new historical fiction release, The Harvey Girls. Juliette will offer a lively discussion and book talk, with signed copies available for purchase through local bookseller Whitelam Books.
About the Book:
The Harvey Girls book cover.
Juliette Fay—known for her “well-drawn characters and vibrant historical backdrops” (Library Journal)—transports us to 1920s America with this big-hearted tale of two very different women who must learn to trust each other as one tries save her family and the other to save herself. Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Kristina McMorris.
1926: Charlotte Crowninshield was born into one of the finest Boston society families. Now she’s on the run from a brutal husband, desperate to disappear into the wilds of the Southwest. Billie MacTavish is the oldest of nine children born to Scottish immigrants in Nebraska. She quit school in the sixth grade to help with her mother’s washing and mending business, but even that isn’t enough to keep the family afloat.
Desperate, both women join the ranks of the Harvey Girls, waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad. Hired on the same day, they share three things: a room, a heartfelt dislike of each other…and each has a secret that will certainly get them fired.
Through twelve-hour days of training in Topeka, Kansas, they learn the fine art of service, perfecting their skills despite bouts of homesickness, fear of being discovered, and a run-in with the KKK. When they’re sent to work at the luxurious El Tovar hotel at the Grand Canyon, the challenges only grow, as Billie struggles to hide her young age from would-be suitors, and Charlotte discovers the little-known dark side of the national park’s history.
About the Author:
Author Juliette Fay. Photo from the Reading Public Library website.
Juliette Fay is the bestselling, award-winning author of seven novels, including The Harvey
Girls; The Tumbling Turner Sisters, a USA Today bestseller; and Shelter Me, a Massachusetts
Book Award and Indie Next pick. Juliette is a graduate of Boston College and Harvard
University, and lives in Massachusetts with her family. www.juliettefay.com
“Juliette Fay’s gift for creating complex, exquisitely human characters” (Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author) is on full display in this deeply moving and joyous celebration of female empowerment, loyalty, and friendship.