Join Robert Beatty, the #1 best-selling author of the Serafina Series, for a book-signing event, 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at Barnes & Noble-Asheville Mall. Rescheduled from October due to Hurricane Helene, this free, open house-style event is the first and only opportunity to meet Robert and get signed and personalized copies of his new book, SYLVIA DOE AND THE 100-YEAR FLOOD. It’s also the perfect time to get a one-of-a-kind gift for all the readers on your holiday list and to support storm relief efforts here in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee.

Robert is donating all earned royalties from sales of Sylvia Doe to the Helene Rebuild Collaborative, an Asheville-based grassroots initiative focused on providing immediate and direct relief to the people and communities hardest hit by the storm. Learn more about HRC: https://hurricanehelenewnc.com/

ABOUT THE BOOK: Sylvia Doe doesn’t know where she was born or the people she came from. She doesn’t even know her real last name. Sylvia has lived at the Highground Home for Children in the mountains of North Carolina for as long as she can remember. Whenever the administrators place her with a foster family in the city, she runs away, back to her horse Kitty Hawk—her best friend—and the other horses in the herd, the only place she feels like she belongs. When a hurricane causes the remote mountain valley where she lives to flood, Sylvia must rescue her beloved horses. But she begins to encounter strange and wondrous things floating down the river. Glittering gemstones and wild animals that don’t belong — everything’s out of place. Then she spots an unconscious boy floating in the water. As she drags him onto the shore and their adventure together begins, Sylvia wonders who he is and where he came from. And why does she feel such a strong connection to this mysterious boy? For readers ages 8 to 108.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert Beatty is the best-selling author of the Serafina Series, the Willa Series, and Sylvia Doe — all published by Disney-Hyperion. With over a million copies sold, his books are loved by young readers and adults alike, are a classroom favorite for teachers nationwide, and have been translated into more than 20 languages across the world. The Serafina Series is a spooky mystery-thriller about a brave and unusual cat-like girl who lives secretly in the basement of the grand Biltmore Estate, surrounded by the opulence of the Gilded Age and the rugged beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Serafina and the Black Cloak, the first book in the series, won the Southern Book Prize in 2016. All four books in the series became #1 New York Times bestsellers. Beatty’s second project was the #1 New York Times best-selling Willa of the Wood Series, the story of a young forest girl with ancient magical powers who struggles for survival and understanding in the Great Smoky Mountains. The Willa books are in the early stages of being developed into a live action television series by Lionsgate. Beatty lives in the mountains of Asheville, N.C., with his wife and three daughters, who help create and refine his stories. He writes full-time now, but in past lives, he was one of the early pioneers of cloud computing, the founder/CEO of Plex Systems, the co-founder of Beatty Robotics, and the chairman/CTO of Narrative Magazine. In 2007, he was named an Entrepreneur of the Year.