Lanier Library will present Hub City Press author Thomas McConnell, reading from and discussing his recently released World War II novel, “The Wooden King,” at noon on Tuesday at the library.

“The Wooden King,” praised by author Ron Rash as “an excellent debut,” explores denial, desire and family drama against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia during World War II.

Set in 1939 Czechoslovakia, the book tells the story of Viktor Trn, a soft-spoken pacifist who finds himself pressured into making a choice: retreat to his decreasing sphere of familial safety  or join the resistance. Ultimately Trn finds himself caught between two titanic armies — the Nazis and the Soviets — and must decide how to save all that he loves.

In the spirit of Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale” and Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See,” The Wooden King explores denial, desire and family drama against the backdrop of World War II, deftly navigating “the simple difference between what we do and what we ought to do” in the face of rising totalitarianism, critics said.

McConnell’s work has appeared in the Connecticut Review, the Cortland Review and Shenandoah, among other publications. He has received the South Carolina Academy of Authors Fiction Fellowship, the Hackney National Literary Award for the Short Story, and his story collection, “A Picture Book of Hell and Other Landscapes,” was published by Texas Tech University Press. He teaches English at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Live @ Lanier is a free monthly program, sponsored by Lanier Library and open to all in the community.

– Submitted by Clare O’Sheel