Author Event: Cindy Ellen Hill at Bear Pond Books in Stowe!

Join Bear Pond Books in Stowe, Vermont on Saturday, 10/24 from 1-3pm for an author meet & greet book signing event! We are excited to welcome Cindy Ellen Hill to promote her book, "Leeds Point".

About the Book:

When Esther Waters’ new-world sea-captain husband abandons her in the salt marsh off the West Jersey colony in 1702, Esther must fend for herself against hunger, accusations of witchcraft, and an angered Leni Lenape serpent god. Learning that her husband made his fortune through slave-trading and murdering his prior wives, Esther’s young heart hardens. After a fatal show-down, Esther embraces her husband’s immorally-achieved gains, turns against her friends and allies, and prepares to develop the marshland into a gleaming city, relishing the entitlement and privilege she gained through inherited wealth built on the capital of slavery and stolen land. Will this feminist anti-hero ultimately become the very monster she had feared?

Leeds Point is a gothic horror novel in sonnet verse set in the isolated coastal marsh off New Jersey in 1702. The story interweaves Leni Lenape folklore and the origin story of the Jersey Devil, and richly engages the natural and contemporary literary realms; osprey, rabbit and fox, along with the works of Newton, Donne, and Milton, all play vital speaking roles. As the consequences of the Glorious Revolution unfold, and England releases its crown monopoly on the transatlantic slave trade, Leeds Point depicts the role slavery, religious conflict, and environmental destruction played in the shaping of early America.

About the Author:

Cindy Ellen Hill lives, writes, gardens, and plays fiddle in Vermont, but leaves her heart with her daughter and granddaughter in Piedmonte, Italy. She has previously published two sonnet chapbooks: Wild Earth (Antrim House Press, 2022) and Elegy for the Trees (Kelsay Books 2023). Her full-length poetry collection Love in a Time of Climate Change will be available from Finishing Line Press in the summer of 2025.