Author of My Notorious Life Kate Manning Coming to the Westport Library

Oprah Winfrey recommended Kate Manning's book My Notorious Life about defying Victorian conventions as one of "6 Books That Make Time Stand Still." Hear Manning talk about her novel on Thursday, September 4, at 7 pm in the Westport Library's McManus Room. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the program, which is free and open to the public.

Based on a true story from the headlines of Victorian New York City, My Notorious Life is a portrait of Axie Muldoon, an impoverished daughter of Irish Immigrants who becomes an enormously successful—and controversial—midwife.

Manning is the author of Whitegirl, A Novel. A former documentary television producer for public television, she has won two Emmy Awards, and has also written for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times Book Review, among others. She has taught creative writing at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan.

"Manning paints a vivid portrait of this daring yet deeply compassionate woman who is willing to flout convention and defy the law in the name of women's reproductive rights... it's the details of Madame X's private life, told in her thick Irish brogue, about the search for her long-lost siblings, her fiery relationship with her devoted husband, and her growth as a mother that lend a human face to a this sensational figure," says Publishers Weekly in a starred review.

For further information, phone 203-291-4800, or check www.westportlibrary.org.