NEWBERG, Ore. — Susan Sokol Blosser, a founding figure in Oregon’s modern wine industry, will read from and discuss her debut novel, Violin Girl, during a launch event at the Newberg Public Library on Tuesday, according to a press release.
Sokol Blosser co-founded Sokol Blosser Winery with Bill Blosser in 1971 and ran the business for 17 years before handing daily operations to her children, Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser, in 2008, according to the release and her author website. She has previously written four nonfiction books on wine, entrepreneurship and leadership; Violin Girl is her first work of fiction, inspired by her mother’s life, according to the release.
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“Based on a true story, Violin Girl follows Belle as her gift carried her toward a life her family and society would never approve,” states the book’s description. “Marriage and motherhood are her preordained future. Professional women musicians did not raise families. What was she to do?”
Set in early 20th-century Chicago, the novel follows Belle, a violinist whose musical talent conflicts with the era’s expectation that a proper Jewish woman’s place was in the home rather than on the concert stage, according to the release. Marriage and motherhood, not a performing career, were expected to define her future.
The book has drawn early praise from Audrey Bilger, president of Reed College, who called it a “vividly narrated, heartwarming” tale, according to the release.
Sokol Blosser is also founder and president of the Yamhill Enrichment Society, a nonprofit that provides literacy and music programming to Yamhill County youth, and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Wine Board, according to her author website.
Tuesday’s event is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Newberg Public Library and will include a reading, a question-and-answer session and copies of the paperback, priced at $24.99, available for purchase, according to the release. The event is free and open to the public. Violin Girl is also available online at susansokolblosser.com, as well as at Sokol Blosser Winery in Dayton and Third Street Books in McMinnville.
