BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Find Local//findlocal.community//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:19700308T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:19701101T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:a2359f3e-1634-45ff-b794-0a42b2f83514@findlocal.community
DTSTAMP:20261015T121834Z
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T210000
SUMMARY:Melissa H. Cronin | The Peach: A Memoir of Trauma\, Survival\, an
 d Forgiveness
DESCRIPTION:Phoenix Books is excited to host author Melissa H. Cronin at 
 Phoenix Books Burlington for an event on Thursday\, October 22 at 7:00 P
 M for a discussion about her latest book The Peach: A Memoir of Trauma\,
  Survival\, and Forgiveness. A former neonatal intensive care nurse\, Me
 lissa H. Cronin is a creative writer\, journalist\, pedestrian advocate\
 , Irish fiddler\, gardener\, and nature artist. She received her MFA in 
 Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Recognized as a Notable Menti
 on in The Best American Essays (2019) and a recipient of a Vermont Studi
 o Center Merit Grant and a Vermont Arts Council Development Grant\, her 
 work has appeared in various mainstream newspapers\, book series\, magaz
 ines\, and literary journals. Melissa lives with her husband in the Cham
 plain Islands. You can find her at http://melissacronin.com/ . About the
  book: On an ordinary summer morning in July 2003\, Melissa Cronin walke
 d through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market\, reaching for a ripe peach. 
 In the next instant\, an out-of-control vehicle tore through the crowded
  market\, leaving ten people dead and dozens more injured. Cronin surviv
 ed. Yet survival\, as she soon discovered\, was only the beginning of a 
 far longer journey. With uncommon honesty\, and extraordinary grace\, Cr
 onin chronicles the years that followed\, years shaped by traumatic brai
 n injury\, grief\, fractured memory\, resilience\, and the difficult\, o
 ften mysterious work of forgiveness. Her memoir moves beyond catastrophe
  toward a deeper meditation on identity\, compassion\, and the fragile a
 rchitecture of a life rebuilt after unimaginable loss. The Peach is not 
 defined by tragedy. It is illuminated by humanity. Again and again\, Cro
 nin bears witness to acts of compassion that emerged amid devastation: s
 trangers who refused to walk away\, physicians and nurses whose vocation
  became an expression of hope\, friends and family who carried her throu
 gh the long seasons of recovery\, and fellow survivors who understood wh
 at words alone could never fully convey. These moments accumulate pretty
  quietly\, revealing something larger than the accident itself--that hea
 ling is rarely an individual achievement. More often\, it is a gift carr
 ied within the lives of others. At Saint Julian Press and Mnemosyne Book
 s\, we have long believed that literature serves not merely to entertain
  but to deepen our capacity for attention\, compassion\, and moral imagi
 nation. The finest memoirs do more than preserve memory\; they expand ou
 r understanding of the human condition. Melissa Cronin has written such 
 a memoir. Her prose is luminous without sentimentality\, reflective with
 out abstraction\, and courageous without self-importance. She neither mi
 nimizes suffering nor offers easy consolation. Instead\, she invites rea
 ders to the quiet\, demanding work of becoming fully human after life ha
 s been broken open. In an age often dominated by outrage\, accusation\, 
 and division. The Peach reminds us of another possibility: that mercy en
 dures\, that forgiveness can coexist with memory\, and that even our dee
 pest wounds may become places where compassion enters the world. It is\,
  finally\, a testament to the enduring truth that we belong to one anoth
 er. DATE: Thursday\, October 22\, 2026 at 7:00 PM LOCATION: Phoenix Book
 s Burlington\, 89 Church Street\, Burlington\, VT TICKETS: Tickets are F
 REE. Phoenix Books has adopted an RSVP-based system\, and you can RSVP t
 hrough the Seven Days Tickets website. Your RSVP grants you a $3.00 off 
 coupon for The Peach: A Memoir of Trauma\, Survival\, and Forgiveness th
 at can be used during the day of the event! BOOKS: Copies of The Peach: 
 A Memoir of Trauma\, Survival\, and Forgiveness by Melissa H. Cronin can
  be purchased during the day of the event.\n\nTickets: https://sevendays
 tickets.com/e/melissa-h-cronin-the-peach-a-memoir-of-trauma-surv\n\nhttp
 s://findlocal.community/event/a2359f3e-1634-45ff-b794-0a42b2f83514
LOCATION:Phoenix Books Burlington\, 191 Bank St\, Burlington\, VT 05401
URL:https://findlocal.community/event/a2359f3e-1634-45ff-b794-0a42b2f8351
 4
STATUS:CONFIRMED
SEQUENCE:0
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR