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Local author tops national bestseller list
Just one week after the successful launch of Finding Flora at Pynelogs Cultural Centre in Invermere, Elinor Florence’s new historical novel about women homesteaders topped the National Bestseller List.
“It’s a good day when you wake up to find your book is outselling Margaret Atwood!” Florence said. “There’s no doubt that my community played a big role in sending my book to the top of the charts. I want to thank Four Points Books for being a wonderful supporter, and all the valley folks who preordered my book or bought it at the event.”
About 100 people attended her book launch at Pynelogs on April 1, which featured both a fancy hat contest (won by Donna Fitzgibbon of Invermere) and a homemade scone contest (won by Toby Osborne-Paradis of Windermere).
How does a book become a bestseller? Every seven days, a private company called Booknet collects the sales data from retail bookstores across Canada and calculates which books have sold the most copies.
In the first week of April, Finding Flora sold more copies in the category of Canadian Fiction than any other book. The list is published in big news outlets like the Toronto Star, the Globe& Mail, and CBC.
Florence is currently touring bookstores in Alberta where the response to her story about a group of women homesteaders near Alix, Alberta is enthusiastic.
“I think the book is appealing because so little has been written about our own Western Canadian history,” Florence said.
She will be home in time to do a book talk at Huckleberry Books in Cranbrook at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 24, another book talk at Four Points Books in Golden from 1 to 3 p.m. on April 26, and she will also sign books and chat with readers at Coles Tamarack Centre in Cranbrook from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3.
Finding Flora is available for purchase at all four bookstores, including Four Points Books in both Invermere and Golden, and Florence is urging everyone to support these Canadian-owned businesses.
Visit her website for a complete schedule of events: www.elinorflorence.com/events .
Lead image: Author Elinor Florence, left, with fancy hat contest winner Donna Fitzgibbon of Invermere. Photos submitted
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