FARMINGTON – Sarah Perry, University of Maine at Farmington Upward Bound alumna, will read from her recently published memoir, “After the Eclipse,” on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. in UMF’s Lincoln Auditorium.
Sarah attended Upward Bound in 1998 and 1999. She graduated from Dirigo High School in 2000, then attended Davidson College and Columbia University, earning her MFA in nonfiction. Sarah’s work has recently been featured in Entertainment Weekly, W Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian and Elle. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Sarah was just 12 years old living in Bridgton, Maine when she woke up to the horrifying sounds of her mother being stabbed to death in the kitchen of their home. It took twelve more years for the police to find and prosecute the killer, after which Sarah embarked on her own journey to understand her mother and reclaim their story. In her debut memoir, Perry pens a deeply loving and impactful account of her beautiful, young mother’s life beyond her violent final hour, and she digs into the disturbing social biases that are at the root of the epidemic of gender-based violence.
In order to write this memoir, Sarah conducted dozens of interviews, poured over more than a decade’s worth of police files, and she reviewed the frenzied news coverage that took place at the time of her mother’s death and later the killer’s trial. Sarah’s personal investigation proves fruitful in this searing story that traces the complicated family history from which she emerges resilient, despite years of battling feelings of abandonment and loss. After the Eclipse is a beautiful memoir about the colossal love shared between mother and daughter, and it is a journalistic, literary feat in the realm of true-crime storytelling.
Sarah will sign copies of her book after the reading. The event is co-sponsored by Upward Bound and Devany, Doak and Garrett.
