HUNTSVILLE – “New York Times” best-selling author Sena Jeter Naslund will visit the main branch of Huntsville-Madison County Public Library on Dec. 15.

Author Sena Jeter Naslund will visit Huntsville-Madison County Public Library on Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. (CONTRIBUTED)

Naslund will discuss the demands of creative careers and her new book, “The Fountain of St. James Court, or Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman: A Novel.” Naslund’s session at 2 p.m. will be held in the main branch’s auditorium.

“How do writers and painters get their ideas? And what are the hard realities of such seemingly glamorous and romantic lives?” Anne Marie Martin said about Naslund’s upcoming talk. Martin works as the library’s communications director.

Admission is free to Naslund’s session. Her books will be available for purchase and signing.

In her groundbreaking new novel, Naslund explores the power of art, history and love in the lives of creative women. Her work also underlines the defining force of transformation that these components have on these women.

“Her novel tells the stories of two women separated by time, place and culture,” Martin said. “Modern-day writer Kathryn Callaghan has just finished the first draft of her novel about renowned painter Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun, a survivor of the French Revolution who was hated for her sympathetic portraits of Marie Antoinette.”

In the book, Callaghan completes her manuscript but is haunted by Elisabeth’s experiences. “As Naslund’s novel-within-a-novel interweaves those experiences with a day in Kathryn’s life, both women face personal danger,” Martin said.

A Birmingham native, Naslund also has authored “Four Spirits,” “Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette” and a short story collection, “The Disobedience of Water.” She has earned the Harper Lee Award and worked as the distinguished teaching professor and writer in residence at the University of Louisville.

For more information about Naslund’s book signing, call Sophie Young at 256-532-2362.

The main branch of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system is located at 915 Monroe St. in Huntsville. For more information, call 256-532-2361 or visit hmcpl.org.