Thomaston Public Library hosts Maine author Joan MacCracken on Tuesday, May 27th, at 2:30 PM

Thomaston, Maine - The Thomaston Public Library will offer an afternoon author event with Maine novelist Joan MacCracken, author of The Winter House: A Season of Sharing, on Tuesday, May 27th, at 2:30 PM in Room 200 of the Thomaston Academy building.

The Winter House, a dialogue-rich read, tells the story of four older women who decide to live together in a large house on the coast of Maine over the course of one winter. Although the work is fictional, its topic is highly relevant today, especially here in Maine with its aging population: economically, socially, and practically, it makes real sense for people to join forces and live communally. The author, Joan MacCracken, will read from her book and speak about this novel living arrangement at Tuesday's event.

Dr. MacCracken is a retired physician who specialized in pediatric endocrinology and practiced in Bangor, Maine for twenty-three years. Her first book, The Sun, the Rain and the Insulin: Growing Up with Diabetes, was published in 1996. In 2005 she adapted a Nicaraguan folktale, creating the book Trisba and Sula, which was awarded Best Bilingual Children’s Book of 2006 by Skipping Stones magazine. Dr. MacCracken also edited and published Cracked Marbles, a collection of Maine stories by the late Dr. Tom Palmer of Bangor. For the past six years she has indulged her passion for writing by producing her small town’s quarterly newspaper, The Brooksville Breeze.

Dr. MacCracken's involvement with the At Home Downeast project, which supports the concept of "aging in place," stimulated her to think about those who prefer to remain in their homes as they grow older. She has two children and three grandchildren and lives with her husband and their dog on the Maine coast.