Books on the Beach is back for a fifth year

The Rhode Island Chapter of Hadassah will celebrate its fifth Books on the Beach author luncheon on  Aug. 11 with authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Rabbi Susan Abramson in the ballroom of the Atlantic Beach Club in Newport from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The authors will mingle with guests, make their presentations and sign purchased books. Proceeds will support the work of Hadassah.

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Truth Be Told

“Truth Be Told”  “packs a powerful punch!” It offers a clever mix of mystery, corruption and romance. Characters include a newspaper reporter, a homicide detective, a bleeding-heart banker, and an expectant mother. “You will want to drop everything and binge-read until its mind-boggling conclusion,”  according to Library Review, which selected “Truth Be Told” as Best of 2014. It is also the winner of the Agatha Award.

Ryan is the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. She has won 30 EMMYs, 12 Edward R. Murrow Awards, and dozens of other honors for her groundbreaking journalism. National reviews have called her a ”master at crafting suspenseful mysteries” and ”a superb and gifted storyteller”. She is a founding teacher at Mystery Writers of America University and was president of Sisters in Crime in 2013.

Rabbi Susan Abramson

Challah: A Chewish Guide to the Torah

It’s a Cookbook.

It’s a weekly Torah guide.

It’s a colorful picture book.

It’s everything you knead to know to make tasty tidbits of Torah.                                                        

It’s a compendium of uniquely shaped, colorful challahs. It’s a family-friendly guide to Torah. It’s fun for all ages! The challahs in this book come to life. Some are biblical characters. Others are ancient animals. Some represent historically holy objects. Each reveals a mouth-watering secret about the weekly Torah portion. The spread for each of the 54 Torah portions includes a color photo of sculpted challah art, an easy-to-read summary of the weekly Torah portion, and a “Food for Thought” column.

What a wonderfully amusing and creative way to bake your journey through the weekly Torah portions!

Female protagonists and general light-heartedness make Rabbi Abramson’s Rocketpower Family Series unique.

The Atlantic Beach Club is at 55 Purgatory Road,  Parking is free. Reservations for the Books on the Beach author luncheon are due on July 30. Mail your check ($50 per person), payable to  RI Hadassah, along with your name, the names of your guests, table seating preferences, and menu choices for you and your guests (salmon or vegetarian), to Author Luncheon, RI Hadassah, 50 Cindyann Drive, East Greenwich, R.I. 02818.

For more information, hadassah.org/rhodeisland; 401-463-3636; rhodeislandchapter@hadassah.org.