Best-selling author Robert Goolrick will return to the Marlboro Public Library on July 5 to read from his much-anticipated second novel Heading Out to Wonderful.

Goolrick’s reading will begin at 11 a.m. at the Marlboro Library, located off Wyncrest Avenue at 1 Library Court. Goolrick first visited the Marlboro Library in June 2010 to read from his widely-praised best seller, A Reliable Wife.

The July 5 reading by Goolrick at the Marlboro Library is free, but those wishing to attend must first pick up tickets for the event.

Tickets will be available at the library beginning June 19 at 9 a.m.  This is a limit of two tickets per person.  Tickets must be picked up in person and cannot be held. 

A Reliable Wife in 2010 was listed in the New York Times top 10 best-selling paperbacks for fiction. Set in 1907, it tells the story of Ralph Truitt, a wealthy businessman who places an ad for “a reliable wife.”  He gets, instead, Catherine Land, who describes herself as “simple, honest woman." However, the only simple thing about her is her single-minded determination to marry Truitt and then kill him so she can become a wealthy widow -- able to take care of the person she truly loves.

This time Goolrick will read from his new novel, Heading Out to Wonderful, the unforgettable story of love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen.
 
As the book opens, an attractive and enigmatic stranger wanders into the sleepy town of Brownsburg, Virginia in the 1940s. He is carrying two suitcases: one contains all his worldly possessions, including a set of butcher’s knives. The other is full of money. Charlie Beale quickly finds a job at the local butcher shop, and through his work there meets the townspeople, including Sylvan Glass, the beautifully, eccentric teenage bride of the town’s richest man.

Goolrick, who grew up in Virginia and currently resides there, said Heading Out to Wonderful was inspired by a story that a friend first told him some 30 years ago, “a long story, about something that had happened to him as a child. It took him an hour to tell, and it was the best story I have ever heard.”

In the past year, the Marlboro Library has hosted book discussions with five different authors, several with the aid of Skype.  Carey Wallace, author of The Blind Contessa’s New Machine, visited the library last July. 

For more information on the program, please call the library at 732-536-9406. For more information on programming at the Monmouth County Library, please visit our website at www.monmouthcountylib.org