Newtown Woman’s Club will host its Fifth Annual Tea/Author Book Signing on Saturday, February 8, at Newtown Country Club, 2 Country Club Road.

The special event will run from 2 until 4 pm. The cost is $20 which includes tea, finger sandwiches, fruit, and dessert. Seating is limited.

Hannah McKinnon, who lives in Sherman with her family, a flock of chickens and two rescue dogs, will be this year’s guest author. Guests will have the opportunity to learn about Ms McKinnon while also enjoying a preview of her upcoming release.

From a very early age Ms McKinnon loved exploring the woods and waters of New England. She developed an affinity for nature, animals, and all stories involving the two.

An educator in her early career years, she saw the impact books had on her students and decided to become a writer. Her first two novels for young adults were the critically acclaimed middle grade novels for children, Franny Parker (2009) and The Properties of Water (2010), both with Farrar Strauss & Giroux/MacMillan.

Of her debut novel, Publisher’s Weekly said Ms McKinnon “addresses big themes of friendship, family, abuse, and love with subtlety and honesty.”

Ms McKinnon then segued into commercial fiction, focused on family dynamics, relationships, and coming of age, while also tackling the difficult topics of modern day families.

Her debut novel, The Lake Season, was published by Emily Bestler Books of Atria/Simon & Schuster in June 2015. She has subsequently published Mystic Summer, The Summer House and Sailing Lessons.

Kirkus Review has called her writing “evocative.” Her books are known for their popular New England settings, like Cape Cod and Rhode Island, and fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer will especially enjoy her beach-themed novels.

Ms McKinnon’s seventh novel, The View From Here, releases in June. Set in Connecticut, the new work follows adult siblings Perry, Jack, and Phoebe Goodwin, who were raised on the shore of a beautiful lake within a close-knit family.

On the afternoon of their grandmother’s 97th birthday party, the siblings reunite at the lake house where Jake stuns the family with a stranger on his arm, and her daughter, and an announcement. While the family struggles to welcome the newcomers over the course of the summer, a series of bad choices made by each family member finally unravels, leaving them all to question what truly makes a family.

New York Times best-selling author Nancy Thayer calls McKinnon’s writing “enticing and refreshing.” The new novel is already being touted as “warm-hearted” and “perfect for fans of Mary Alice Monroe’s the Beach House series and the works of Elin Hilderbrand” (Atria Paperback/Simon & Schuster).

Reservations for the Newtown Woman’s Club event are requested as soon as possible. Call 203-740-2733 or 203-426-3651 to make one, and for additional information.