[Book Event] Meeting Diane Les Becquets @ Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH

Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Diane Les Becquets, author of The Last Woman in the Forest and Breaking Wild at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH.

I drove up with my husband. As you all know, Alex isn’t much of a reader, but he always supports what I love. This was the second bookish event he’s gone to with me so I didn’t have to go alone, and I’m so glad he was there with me this time because it was such an awesome event!

As we were walking into Gibson’s, Alex paused to hold the door for a woman coming in. They had your usual exchange in that situation. I, of course, got totally star struck and a few seconds later, I was finally able to say to Alex, “That was her!”

Next up, we walked to the front counter and Alex bought me her book, which was one of my top anticipated books of 2019! Then we went to sit and wait for the event to begin as I practically drooled over the cover, spine design, and the naked book cover. It’s so pretty!

Alex and I were able to snag front row seats for the event! 🙂

When Diane Les Becquets got up to the podium, she began her discussion by talking about all of the research she did in order to write this book. It was so neat learning about K9s for Conservation and how that program works. I couldn’t believe it when she explained that dogs are taken from the pound and trained to sniff out animal scat. But not only that, the dogs can detect it under two feet of snow in the tundra! How amazing is that?! The scat is then tested by scientists to see how the local animals are reacting to certain stressors.

She also spoke about a very traumatic event from her past. She was held at knife point for eight hours and assaulted. She made it out alive, but when she went to report it, she was told that taking this public would ruin her. So she stayed quiet. She spoke about how this event continued to haunt her, and still affects her to this day though she has learned a lot about herself from living through it. One chapter from the book is about that horrible experience she survived. Knowing that this was based on a real event, I’m sure I’m going to have a hard time reading it.

One more note on that horrible event: She told us that the man that assaulted her ended up killing his wife and then himself…

Diane spoke about a number of other things helped create her new novel such as the Connecticut River Valley Murders and her relationships to others that meant a lot to her personally. She spoke about being with a loved one when he passed, and seeing how much love surrounded him when he passed. She then spoke about the victims of horrible crimes, like the Connecticut River Valley Murder victims, whose last face they see, and the last voice they hear is not from a loved one, but from a monster.

Whoa, boy… That got me.

Next up, she read a passage from her book that got everyone going! There were many sniffles throughout the crowd. I was already so excited to read this novel, but that excitement grew even more!

Before the event wound down, she did a lovely Q & A session, and then did a book signing.

After the event was over, Alex and I headed to dinner at a local shop, and while we were walking over, he said, “That was so cool! She got me going when she was talking about the man seeing his wife and how she looked like an angel… Man, it’s going to be cool to hear you talking about this one soon now that I have some background information about the author and the story!”

Mission accomplished!

Thanks for reading!

And of course, a shout-out to Diane Les Becquets for taking the time to speak with all of us at this wonderful event, and a thanks to Gibson’s Bookstore for hosting! 

If you’d like to snag a copy of this book, check out the Gibson’s Website, ask your local bookshop, or feel free to use my Amazon affiliate link here!

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