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In Conversation with Brynn Barineau
May 21 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Join us for a free In Conversation event with author Brynn Barineau and her new novel, Jungle of Ashes! She will be in conversation with Laura Leigh Morris , author of The Stone Catchers.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
In 1928, industrial titan Henry Ford set out to conquer the Brazilian rainforest, determined to grow his own rubber and free his company from British control. The result was Fordlandia—a factory-town dream of American order imposed on the chaos of the jungle. But behind the promise of progress lies exploitation, cultural conflict, and ecological disaster.
Seventeen-year-old Joanna Rogge is uprooted from Michigan when her father is appointed assistant manager of the Ford Company’s Amazonian plantation. Eager to escape the confining expectations of American society, Joanna finds herself both fascinated and disturbed by the rainforest—and by Rafael Caetano, a skilled Brazilian mechanic with ambitions of his own.
As conditions at Fordlandia deteriorate—diseased crops, rising fevers, and mounting tensions between management and labor—Joanna and Rafael are drawn together in a fragile romance that defies class, culture, and the company’s rigid rules. When political revolution and corporate control collide, they must choose between duty and desire, safety and truth, survival and love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brynn Barineau is the author of Jaguars and Other Game, which debuted in November, 2022. Her second novel, Jungle of Ashes, will launch with History Through Fiction on May 19, 2026 along with the re-release of Jaguars and Other Game.
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER:
Laura Leigh Morris is an assistant professor at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where she teaches creative writing and literature at Furman University. Before that, she spent three years as the National Endowment for the Arts/Bureau of Prisons Artist-in-Residence at Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. She’s previously published short fiction in Appalachian Heritage, the Louisville Review, the Notre Dame Review, and other journals. She is originally from north central West Virginia. Learn more at lauraleighmorris.com.
Never been to an In Conversation event? This is a free event with books available for purchase.
