Rosenberg, paper have two book signings Friday

The Rosenberg Library is hosting its first post-Hurricane Ike book signing on Friday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Texas author Carolyn Osborn will be reading from and signing her latest book, “Uncertain Ground.”

The novel is set in the pre-reform era of 1950s Galveston. Many of the novel’s themes are a timely reflection of Galveston’s state of flux since Hurricane Ike.

The Rosenberg Library invites readers to stop by for light refreshments and a reunion with the island’s past before heading over to The Galveston County Daily News building for a signing of “Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope and Resurrection in the Face of One of America’s Largest Hurricanes,” a new book chronicling the devastation and rebuilding after Hurricane Ike, by The Daily News reporter Rhiannon Meyers and former reporter Leigh Jones. The signing is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The serendipity of two book signings on the same day is a nod to the tenacious spirit of the island and the creativity of the residents and visitors who shape it.

Osborn’s “Uncertain Ground” captures a moment in time just before Galveston must bow to the inevitable and enter the modern era.

Set in 1953, the story is a snapshot of one month in the life of Celia Henderson, a small town Texas girl who has seen just enough of the world to know that there is more to life than babies and church and cattle.

The novel offers a glimpse of Galveston’s long history of struggle against the wilder elements, both human and meteorological.

“Uncertain Ground” also tackles the complex cultural collisions that define the island’s character.

It is a place where the Old South meets the Old West, where poverty and wealth exist side by side, and races mix more freely than elsewhere.

In the 1950s, Galveston was Texas’ own Sin City, a hive of hustlers and gamblers, home to the largest red light district in the state.

Events and characters in the novel pit old racial and anti-homosexual prejudices against the dawning of a more tolerant age.

On the uncertain ground of a fragile barrier island — an island inhabited by the ghosts of pirates and the echoes of human tragedy and triumph — Osborn portrays balance as a possibility in an unpredictable world.

It is no coincidence that Ms. Osborn chose to set her first novel in Galveston. Originally from Nashville, Tenn., Ms. Osborn moved to Texas when she was 12.

As a young woman in the 1950s, she frequently visited an aunt and uncle who lived in Galveston.

Eventually, she brought her own family to the island, renting a beach house or going on special tours with friends.

The author believes Galveston is “a wonderful city with a colorful history, the sort of place attractive to writers and to many other people whether they live in Galveston or not.”

Osborn, best known for her short stories and essays, has also been a newspaper reporter, writer for radio and an English teacher at the University of Texas at Austin.

Now residing in Austin, the award-winning author is a past president of the Texas Institute of Letters and was one of the founders of the Texas Book Festival.

On writing about Galveston, Ms. Osborn explains: “It’s amazing how many people I know who live inland yet have some connection to the island; they lived there, have relatives in Galveston, or went to med school there. Like me, they bonded with the place.”

For information about Carolyn Osborn and Uncertain Ground, visit her website, http://carolynosborn.com.

Call the Rosenberg Library, 409-763-8854, Ext. 140, or e-mail ptaylor(at)rosenberg-library.org with questions about the book signing.

Poom Sunhachawi-Taylor is adult services manager, Rosenberg Library in Galveston.