Book Launch: Fret by Nadia Bozak

Join us for the book launch of Nadia Bozak's new novel Fret, moderated by local author Katie Tallo. Once a rising star of indie rock, Kate is now a middle-aged single mom living far out of the spotlight. Everything changes for her when an unprecedented heat wave and a stolen car set off a chain of events that threaten to upend her new, peaceful life. Fired from her job, separated from her children, and overwhelmed by public shaming, Kate must navigate the cold realities of the child welfare and family court systems while struggling to stay cool in an increasingly unbearable world. Determined to rebuild, Kate finds herself forging new connections and fostering a sense of community — something she hasn’t felt since her music career ended in disaster more than a decade before. As Kate finds a new voice, she makes her way back to her children and her love of music, and steps closer to reconciling with her former bandmate and arch-rival: her little sister. If building community is Kate’s way of reckoning with the mistakes of her past, can it also be a way to mitigate the deeper, more urgent issues and structural injustices that threaten our future? Nadia will be joined by fellow local author, Katie Tallo, in conversation. Nadia Bozak lives in Ottawa with her family and is a faculty member in the Department of English at Carleton University. Fret is her fifth book. Katie Tallo has more than three decades of experience as an award-winning screenwriter and director. After winning an international novel contest, she began writing mystery thrillers. Her debut thriller, Dark August, was an instant bestseller, earning acclaim as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and an Apple Book of the Month. It also made the Globe 100 list. Since then, Katie has written two more novels in the critically acclaimed Gus Monet trilogy: Poison Lilies and Buried Road. The author lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her husband.