Thursday, July 17, 2025 – 5:00-6:30 PM EDT
Price: Free
Registration: Seating is limited; please call to reserve your spot: 843-379-7025.
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St., Beaufort
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, in partnership with Beaufort Bookstore, will host an evening with novelist Katherine Scott Crawford, author of The Miniaturist’s Assistant, on Thursday, July 17, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort).
Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Miniaturist’s Assistant explores the mystery of time, how our choices ripple throughout history, and what it means to be a fully-realized woman— in any century.
2004: In historic Charleston, recently divorced art conservator Gamble Vance throws herself into her career restoring centuries-old miniature portraits. But one portrait haunts her: a woman in a fox stole, with familiar hazel eyes. When Gamble meets a girl in an alley, she’s convinced it’s the same woman— and it’s not the first time they’ve met. For help, Gamble turns to African American Studies scholar Tolliver Jackson— a former foster kid with secrets of his own. But as Gamble’ s memories resurface, the pair discover a connection which may endanger more than one life… in more than one lifetime.
1804: Miniature portraitist and fallen-away Quaker Daniel Petigru paints for Charleston’ s high society. Daniel and his sister live with a free Black family, their connection long and complicated. When Gamble arrives from the future and her presence puts them all at risk, Daniel must decide if he loves her enough to let her go.
“What a lush, bold novel is The Miniaturist’s Assistant by Katherine Scott Crawford, blending love, intrigue, and the role of portrait art in history for a story that is as suspenseful as it is wildly romantic. I’m not a fan of time travel tales in general, but the astounding journey of art restorer Gamble Vance through the Charleston of the present and the very long past transcends genre and takes the reader places that are entirely new.”—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and The Birdwatcher
“The Miniaturist’s Assistant is a multifaceted love story wrapped in a mystery that unfurls on the changing winds of history. A rollicking, page-turning tale, this unforgettable novel explores time travel, art, passion, the complexity of past sins, and the abundant promises embedded in the here and now. Katherine Scott Crawford has written a beautiful book steeped in humanity, truth, and wonder.”—Connie May Fowler, author of Before Women had Wings
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katherine Scott Crawford is the award-winning author of The Miniaturist’s Assistant and Keowee Valley. A former backpacking guide, adjunct professor, and recovering academic, her newspaper column appeared weekly across the country and abroad, including in USA Today, The Detroit Free Press, the Herald Scotland, and more. Winner of a North Carolina Arts Award in fiction, she holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
She’d rather be in the woods with her dog than anywhere else, enjoys curious people, adventure, and snow—and believes historical fiction the best way to time travel. An eleventh-generation Southerner, she directs writing retreats at a remote mountain lodge in Western North Carolina, where she lives with her family.
