February 8, 2012, Wednesday - Margaret Wurtele Publication Reading at The Loft

Time: 7:00pm

Location: The Loft, Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Margaret Wurtele reads from her debut novel The Golden Hour.

The Golden Hour begins in the autumn of 1943 when German forces invade the peaceful vineyards and olive groves of Giovanna Bellini's village in Tuscany. At seventeen, she is at first intrigued with the dashing Nazi officers who have taken over her house and the school where she works. Her life changes wehn her brother joins the partisans and recruits her to smuggle food. What begins as a lark takes a drastic turn when she's asked to hide a wounded freedom fighter, who is not just a partisan but also a Jew.

Margaret Wurtele is the author of two memoirs Touching the Edge: A Mother's Path from Loss to Life and Taking Root: A Spiritual Memoir. Her career has centered on fundraising for the arts as development director for the St. Paul United Arts Fund, as managing director for the Dayton Hudson Foundation, and as a a board member of such Twin Cities arts organizations as the Guthrie Theater, the Minnesota Opera, and The Loft Literary Center. She and her husband divide their time between Minneapolis and California's Napa Valley, where they are the owners of Terra Valentine winery. The Golden Hour is her first novel.