On Wednesday, July 17 at 7 p.m., The New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard visits The Music Hall Lounge with her newest book, “How the light gets in.” Get ready to dive into this eagerly anticipated follow-up to “Count the Ways,” a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.

The 7 p.m. event includes an author conversation with Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Empire Falls,” and an audience Q&A, and is followed by a post-show meet-and-greet. It will be held at The Music Hall Lounge at 131 Congress St., Portsmouth.

About the book

Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.

How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Joyce Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call “home.”

The ticket package for Literary in the Lounge: Joyce Maynard with How the Light Gets on Wednesday, July 17, at 7 p.m. is $47. The ticket package includes a signed book, a reserved seat, an author discussion, Q+A, and a post-show meet-and-greet. Tickets can be purchased online at TheMusicHall.org, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or in person at the B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut Street.