I will join Jackson Kuhl and Margaret McNellis at a book presentation sponsored by the boutique book store Wesleyan RJ Julia. The event celebrates Connecticut authors of Historical Fiction. The selection was competitivem with hundreds of applicants. So it is an honor to have made the three authors chosen for promotion with Beyond the Bukubuk Tree; A World War II Novel of Love and Loss.
RJ Julia’s Local Sutor Series currently runs three or four contests annually, for separate genres like poetry, general fiction, historical fiction.
Wesleyan RJ Julia Author Event, September 3
WHO:
Authors Jackson Kuhl, Loretta Goldberg, and Margaret McNellis
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 at 5 pm
WHERE:
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
413 Main Street
Middletown, Connecticut
FAIRFIELD, CT, August 26, 2025 — On Wednesday, September 3, three Connecticut writers of historical fiction will speak on a panel and read from their latest works at the Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown.
· Jackson Kuhl, The Island of Small Misfortunes. Set in 1898 among Branford’s Thimble Islands, a visit to his estranged family’s private island soon turns sinister when a haunted sailor investigates his cousin’s death in Jackson Kuhl’s The Island of Small Misfortunes, a gothic novella of ghosts and murder. Called “a spellbinding symphony of suspense and sorrow,” The Island of Small Misfortunes takes on themes of inheritance, memory, war, and ghosts — both real and imagined.
· Loretta Goldberg, Beyond the Bukubuk Tree. Set during World War II, in Beyond the Bukubuk Tree, two Australian soldiers stationed in New Guinea — one an idealistic Jewish doctor, the other a soul-scarred veteran of the First World War — must improvise a desperate retreat into the jungle when Japanese forces invade the port of Rabaul. Meticulously researched and richly textured by award-winning author Loretta Goldberg, Beyond the Bukubuk Tree is a gripping saga of courage, love, and survival in the face of overwhelming adversity.
· Margaret McNellis Daughter of the Seven Hills. In Margaret McNellis’s Daughter of the Seven Hills, the daughter of a wealthy family in ancient Rome finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy to assassinate the emperor, orchestrated by none other than her husband, an ambitious and power-hungry senator. Daughter of the Seven Hills is a novel of identity and belonging, in which a brave woman of wealth and privilege must look deep inside herself to discover what Rome means to her.
Hosted by Wesleyan RJ Julia, the trio of authors will discuss and read from their books, beginning at 5 pm. A Q&A with the audience will follow. Each author’s books will be available for sale and to be signed by the author. The authors are available for media interviews afterward, if requested.
It’s a lovely store in Middletown, Connecticut, serving Wesleyan University. as well as the local community,
Link below
https://events.wesleyan.edu/event/15069-local-author-series-historical-fiction