Novelist writes about Galveston storm of 1900 | Charlotte Observer

The category 4 storm with winds of about 145 miles per hour hit Galveston, Tx., on Sept. 8, 1900, and has been called the deadliest natural disaster of the 20th century, killing an estimated 8,000 people.

That storm, often referred to as the Great Galveston Hurricane, is at the eye of Ann Weisgarber’s novel, “The Promise,” which she will discuss Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., when the Women’s National Book Association’s Great Group Reads Book Club joins Park Road Book’s Book Club at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd., Charlotte, 28209.

First published in the United Kington, “The Promise” was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, making Weisgarber the first American to be a finalist for that prize. In this country, the novel was a finalist for the Spur Award in Best Western Historical Fiction, as awell as the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction.

The event is free and open to the public.