Current Press Release

JACKSON – Veterans Day is a time to contemplate the sufferings of people in war. Experience the effects of a dark time in America when Michèle LaRue performs Gettysburg: One Woman’s War at the Ocean County Library Jackson Branch, 2 PM Saturday, November 12.

Adapted from Elsie Singmaster’s searing 1913 historical novel Gettysburg: Stories of the Red Harvest and the Aftermath, it follows fictional wife and mother Mary Bowman through 50 years, from the first fusillades, to Lincoln’s visit, to the protracted struggle for healing.

The bloody 1863 Battle of Gettysburg is considered a Civil War turning point. It led to the creation of America’s first national cemetery. LaRue’s performance for Historic Gettysburg Adams County was praised as “priceless…masterfully, professionally, affectively and effectively presented.”

LaRue has appeared in 450 venues nationally, with a repertoire that revitalizes writing from America’s Gilded Age. Gettysburg marks her fourth appearance at the Jackson Branch.

Elsie Singmaster (1878-1958), raised in small-town Pennsylvania, spent most of her adult life in Gettysburg. Her knowledge of her surroundings enhances the vividness of her Gettysburg stories. Her novel Swords of Steel was a Newbery Honor recipient.

Registration at www.theoceancountylibrary.org/events is required for this free program. For more information, visit the Branch, 2 Jackson Drive, or call (732) 928-4400.

Keep up with Library programs and events at www.theoceancountylibrary.org, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, and Pinterest.

10-21-larue.pdf