Please join the Ozarks Studies Institute, an initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, on Tuesday evening, March 30, 2021 beginning at 7 p.m. CDT for an online author talk and discussion with novelist Amy Engel. Her most recent book is The Familiar Dark. This online event is free and open to the public. It will be recorded and archived, too. 

The novel, set in the mythic Missouri Ozarks small town of Barren Springs, is about the bonds of family — women doing the best they can for their daughters in dire circumstances — as well as a story about how even the darkest and most terrifying places can provide the comfort of home. It’s a spellbinding story of a mother with nothing left to lose who sets out on an all-consuming quest for justice after her daughter and another girl are murdered on the town playground.

According to the author’s website: “Amy was born in Kansas and spent the first few years of her life living in a small commune among the wheat fields. When she was three, Amy and her parents moved to Iran. Although she was very young when she lived there, Amy has incredibly fond memories of Iran, both the people and the country. After Iran, her family settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where Amy attended the local elementary school and often gave the teacher hand-written notes correcting her spelling (this did not endear Amy to the teacher).” 

The Ozarks Studies Institute seeks to preserve the heritage of the Ozarks, its culture, environment, and history, by fostering a comprehensive knowledge of Ozarks’ peoples, places, characteristics, and dynamics.