2009 Kansas Reads – The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard

2009 Kansas Reads begins January 29 thru March 15,  2009.  This a statewide reading project sponsored by the Kansas Center for the Book. The book selected, The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard, was chosen for its broad-based appeal that could encourage and sustain discussion.  The Virign of Small Plains is also the Oswego Public Library Book Club selection for February.  The Library has several copies available for checkout.  “An unforgettable tale of love, lust, faith, betrayal, and redemption. A powerful, mesmerizing suspense novel–a tour de force!” –Judith Kelman, author of The Session

Nancy Pickard will be visiting the Oswego Public Library on Monday, February 16 at 6:30 p.m.  Ms. Pickard is a nationally known author and has written sixteen novels of mystery and deception as well as an severa short story compilations.  Her works are included in anthologies of crime and mystery with such authors as Sue Grafton, Jeffery Deaver and Sara Paretsky.  The public is invited to attend. If you have any further questions please contact the Oswego Public Library. 

“The following experts are from The Kansas Center for the Book Website”

Nancy Pickard’s mystery novel, The Virgin of Small Plains, has been well-received since its initial publication in April, 2006. It was named to the 2007 Kansas Notable Books List, and was selected in 2008 as the one-book/one-state title for 2009 Kansas Reads…The Virgin of Small Plains.

In the dead of winter, murder in a frozen pasture near the small fictional town of Small Plains, Kansas, in the Flint Hills rips through the usually slow-paced rural community. The frozen body of a young girl is found in the snow by Sheriff Nathan Shellenberger and his sons. Two decades later, some of the prominent citizens of the small town strive to keep the truth hidden, but the mystery is solved.