A gorgeous example of family history as story, Pennsylvania Love Song is a perfect tribute to the subtle yet undeniable connections between mothers and daughters and the quiet influence of family legacy.” —Sarah Angleton, author of Paradise on the Pike
Phoenix Books Burlington is thrilled to host beloved Vermont author Nancy Hayes Kilgore to celebrate her new novel, Pennsylvania Love Song!
Nancy Hayes Kilgore lives and writes in Burlington, Vermont. Formerly a parish pastor (Presbyterian and Congregational,) she has been writing fiction and essays and practicing as a pastoral counselor (psychotherapist) for over twenty years. Her fiction writing integrates the psychological and spiritual, not through exposition or talking about the issues, but through exploring how these dimensions play out in the ways her characters live their lives.
About the book:
Pennsylvania Love Song is told from the points of view of Flossie, 22 in 1941, and her mother, Florence, 22 in 1911. When Flossie’s fiancé, Hammie, is drafted and World War II begins, she is caught between loyalty to him and falling in love with George, a young doctor. Flossie mourns the absence of her mother who died when she was born. Thirty years earlier, Florence aspires to be a concert pianist and is courted by Phillip, but she contracts pneumonia and eventually tuberculosis. After a stay at a sanatorium, she is supposedly “cured.” Should she marry Phillip to be taken care of in luxury or Ernest, her best friend and “comrade”? Both women struggle to combine an independent identity with love and marriage in a time of social upheaval – the suffragist movement and TB epidemic in the 1910s and World War II in the 1940s.
DATE: Tuesday, October 21 2025, at 7PM
LOCATION: Phoenix Books, 89 Church Street, Burlington, VT
TICKETS: $3. Your ticket comes with a coupon for $3 off one of the featured books. Coupons expire at closing the evening of the event. Tickets can be purchased at the registration link below, or at the door.
BOOKS: Copies of Pennsylvania Love Song will be available at the event. A book signing will follow the discussion.
You may also like the following events from Phoenix Books Essex & Burlington:
- Next Wednesday, 27th August, 11:00 pm, Virtual Poetry Open Mic in Burlington, Vermont
- Next month, 3rd September, 07:00 pm, Burlington: An Evening with Eve Alexandra in Burlington
- Next month, 4th September, 07:00 pm, Burlington: An Evening with Judith Yarnall in Burlington
Also check out other
Music events in Burlington,
Arts events in Burlington,
Literary Art events in Burlington.