The writers featured in the next installment of the Connecticut Authors Reading Series all have Europe, especially Paris, on their minds.

Heather Webb's latest novel is Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I, which she co-wrote with Hazel Gaynor; Eric D. Lehman will read from Shadows of ParisLetters from , about a correspondence from a young woman exploring the world.A Lover's Daughter, a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award; and Newtown resident Patricia Barkman has

"I like how it worked out this way," said Newtown author Sophfronia Scott, who curates the series and whose own novel, Unforgivable Love, also features scenes set in Paris. "I think the audience will enjoy traveling vicariously through the work of these talented writers."

Ms Scott created the series two years ago to introduce to readers and writers the work of authors who live in the Nutmeg State. The next reading is scheduled for Saturday, November 18, from 2 to 4 pm, in the main meeting room of the library, 25 Main Street. The writers will read from both published works and works in progress, with time in between each reading for discussion and Q&A with the audience about the craft of writing. Refreshments will be served and books available for purchase.

Sunday's Authors

Patricia Barkman, PhD (above left), has written three books: Lieber and My Chocolate Lover,, Letters from a Lover's Daughter. She taught college English/communications for 30 years in upstate New York and here in Connecticut. She has hiked all the mountains over 4,000 feet in the Northeast.

"Granny Pat" is an adopted grandmother to a dozen grandchildren. She lives on Taunton Lake in Newtown and has a gallery there called Lakeside Gallery, home to her 200-plus paintings. An organic gardener, she keeps two big compost heaps for her veggies and flowers, which she likes to share.

Eric D. Lehman (above center) teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Bridgeport. His essays, reviews, poems, and stories have been published in dozens of journals and magazines, from Gastronomica to Berfrois.

His dozen books include A History of Connecticut Food, Literary Connecticut, A History of Connecticut Wine: Vineyard in Your Backyard, Bridgeport: Tales from the Park City, Hamden: Tales from the Sleeping Giant, Insiders' Guide to Connecticut, The Foundation of Summer, Connecticut Town Greens: History of the State's Common Centers, and Afoot in Connecticut: Journeys in Natural History, nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

His biography of Charles Stratton, Becoming Tom Thumb, won the Henry Russell Hitchcock Award from the Victorian Society of America, and was chosen as one of the American Library Association's outstanding university press books of the year. His revolutionary history Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London was a finalist in two categories of the Next Gen Indie Book Awards. And his novella, Shadows of Paris, was the Novella of the Year from the Next Gen Indie Book Awards, a Silver Medal for Romance from the Foreword Review Indie Book Awards, and a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award.

He believes that history and travel help us know the place we live, and therefore know ourselves.

Heather Webb (above right) writes historical fiction for Penguin, including her novels Becoming Josephine and Rodin's Lover. A former military brat, Ms Webb naturally grew up obsessed with travel, culture, and languages.

She put her degrees to good use teaching high school French for nearly a decade before channeling these passions into fiction.

When not writing, she flexes her foodie skills or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world.

Ms Webb is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Women's Fiction Writers Association. She also has forthcoming in February The Phantom's Apprentice, a reimagining of Phantom of the Opera.

This will be Ms Webb's second reading with the Connecticut Authors series.

For additional information call 203-426-4533 or visit chboothlibrary.org.