After writing three childrenB次元官网网址檚 books, Victoria author Penny Chamberlain is unveiling her first adult novel about a mysterious malady affecting the girls in a small town.

On Oct. 15, ChamberlainB次元官网网址檚 Songs from a Small Town (in a Minor Key) arrives on bookstore shelves. Three days later Chamberlain will present a live-streamed reading from HermannB次元官网网址檚 Jazz Club in Victoria.

The story is inspired by a true case of sudden mass hysteria in the town of Le Roy, New York, in 2011, in which 14 high school students exhibited involuntary and impaired movement and speech, later diagnosed as conversion disorder and mass psychogenic illness. Chamberlain said she started work on her book shortly after reading about the incident.

B次元官网网址淲hat intrigued me was how the town reacted to it, not just the thing itself. What people would do,B次元官网网址� Chamberlain said. B次元官网网址淲hether some people would be afraid and want to move away, some people would be curious and want to go and look at them and kind of gawk at them.B次元官网网址�

While the town in Songs from a Small Town is never named and could represent B次元官网网址渁ny small town,B次元官网网址� Chamberlain said she sees the story taking place in the Fraser Valley, with her memories of growing up in Nanaimo also influencing her vision.

Chamberlain also drew from her professional experience while writing the book. She recently retired from a 30-year career as a physiotherapist at Victoria General Hospital, a hospital she said handles a lot of neurological cases.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e had lots of different patients so you do see how it affects the person themselves but also the family around them and how they try and cope with something thatB次元官网网址檚 scary and the unknown,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淗aving a little bit of the medical background, that was helpful when I was researching this.B次元官网网址�

In order to illustrate the impact the illness has on the townspeople, Songs from a Small Town is told through the points of view of 12 characters. Chamberlain said the book is about all the different ways people approach a challenge.

B次元官网网址淪ome people would take advantage of it and some people are afraid, their go-to response is fear, some people itB次元官网网址檚 kind of titillating,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just the variability in humanity [when] faced with the same thing.B次元官网网址�

WHATB次元官网网址橲 ON B次元官网网址� Penny Chamberlain presents a live-streamed reading from Songs from a Small Town (in a Minor Key) from HermannB次元官网网址檚 Jazz Club on Oct. 18 at 1:30 p.m. For tickets to the event or to view the live stream, .

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