Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
Emily Giffin, right, poses for a photo with local author Patti Callahan Henry during a recent visit to Vestavia Country Club.
With her latest book topping the New York Times bestselling fiction chart, author Emily Giffin made a recent stop at the Vestavia Country Club for a private lunch event. Almost 90 tickets were sold exclusively to club members and their guests.
In partnership with the Alabama Booksmith, the club hosted Giffin on July 20. She had spent time at the store before the event, signing first-edition copies of her newest release for purchase by luncheon attendees. “First Comes Love” is Giffin’s eighth novel, which focuses on the relationship between two sisters dealing with tragedy and being true to one’s self.
Robert Carr, chief operations officer at VCC, said they host several author events each year, and they are always successful.
“When we first started these events, they took off, and we have wonderful turnouts,” he said. “Emily Giffin is not only a wonderful writer, but entertaining as well.”
Jake Reiss, owner of the Alabama Booksmith, said Carr came to him several years ago with this partnership idea, and he thought it was brilliant.
“I don’t know of any other country clubs in the world that do this,” Reiss said. “He [Carr] wanted to bring in a major writer that would appeal to his members and give them a signed first edition. It just so happened that we had Emily scheduled, and he jumped at the chance. We had a huge crowd, and that started the relationship.”
After her arrival, Giffin visited each table, chatting, mingling and posing for photos with attendees. As the last official stop on her U.S. tour, Giffin said she was happy to be in Vestavia and definitely “saved the best for last.”
“It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “I love all my book-store signings, but what a beautiful room, and you definitely win best-dressed crowd.”
This marked Giffin’s second time at the VCC and third to the Birmingham area. One of her best friends is Julie Portera, a local attorney. The two met at the University of Virginia School of Law, and Giffin revealed Portera gets one of the first reads of each novel.
“My best friend, Julie, is one of the reasons I’m here,” Giffin said. “I try to book my best friends in my tour and get a little reunion every year. Julie is one of the few people I let read the book before it goes to print. She edited every line of this novel (and) finds mistakes that no one else finds.”
“It was so much fun, and I love doing it,” said Portera, a partner at Maynard Cooper & Gale.
Giffin spoke for about 20 minutes, discussing her decision to leave her job practicing law to pursue her passion of writing, her second novel in film production and where she gets her ideas and inspirations for each book. She ended by taking questions from the audience.
