Sandra Dallas

Library Author Series: Sandra Dallas

Thursday, October 22, 2015 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
  • Library Hall

Spend an evening at the library with New York Times bestselling author Sandra Dallas as she talks about her new novel, The Last Midwife.

Sandra Dallas is the author of 13 adult novels, two young reader novels, and 10 nonfiction books. With her novels’ themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity, author Jane Smiley calls Dallas “a quintessential American voice.” A past Literary Sojourn author, Dallas recently won the 2015 WILLA Award for her novel, A Quilt for Christmas, which was the fourth time she has received this literary award for Women Writing in the West.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Dallas began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week, where she was a staff member for 25 years and magazine’s first female bureau chief. She covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

She is a two-time winner of both the National Cowboy Museum’s Wrangler Award, for Sacred Paint and The Quilt Walk, and the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. She is the recipient of the 2014 Eleanor Gheres Award from the Denver Public Library and the Pikes Peak Library District’s 2014 Frank Waters Award.

The Last Midwife

Sandra Dallas' new novel is The Last Midwife. Set in 1880, Gracy Brookens is the only midwife in a small Colorado mining town, where she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies in her lifetime. She is a gifted and important resource for the women of her hardscrabble community, a position earned through wisdom and trust. Most women in Swandyke couldn’t even imagine getting through their pregnancy labor without Gracy by their sides. But everything changes when a baby is found dead…and the evidence points to Gracy as the killer. Gracy knows she didn’t commit the crime. But her innocence isn’t quite that simple, either. She knows things, and that’s dangerous. With her friends taking sides and a trial looming, Gracy must decide whether it’s worth risking everything to prove her innocence. And she knows that her years of discretion may simply demand too high a price now…especially since she’s been keeping more than a few dark secrets of her own.

This community talk is free.

About the Library Author Series
Bud Werner Memorial Library presents an ongoing program of author talks throughout the year. These are free community events held in Library Hall, where a diverse award-winning range of visiting authors speak about their literary works and their writing processes. Each talk is followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to have authors sign copies of  their books.

Books will be available for sale and author signing courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.