Christi Pope of De Soto has published her first novel, “Lucy Left Town.”
Pope will hold a book signing from 1-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the De Soto Public Library, 712 S. Main St. Copies of the book will be sold at the event.
The book was self-published through Outskirts Press Inc. in December, and it sells for $23.95 in paperback and $9.49 as an eBook online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other retailers.
Pope, who lives just outside of De Soto with her husband, Ed, said an idea for the book had been floating around in her head for a while, and one day she just sat down at the computer and started writing it.
“It just poured out,” said Pope, a 1972 De Soto High School graduate, who retired from a local appliance store 10 years ago.
The book tells the story of a woman named Lucy who, after many years of marriage, decided to take care of herself first and look for something more in life.
“She was just restless, realizing she didn’t have a whole lot of time left to do the things she wanted to do,” Pope said.
After finishing the book, Pope had no idea what to do with it, but De Soto Library Director Karen Graham encouraged her and helped her get the book published.
Pope has since written a second novel and sent it off to Outskirts Press to get it self-published.
“It’s not a sequel; there are no connecting characters. It’s just another idea I had in my head,” she said.