Donna Everhart: A Reading & Reception
Friday, August 28th, 2026
11 am – 1 pm
Orion Chapel and Schoolhouse
350 & 194 Orion Lane • Jefferson, NC 28640
We have twelve amazing authors scheduled for the 2026 On the Same Page Festival, and we can’t wait to share all of them with you! In the meantime, we are delighted to announce that we will be hosting a Reading & Reception with Donna Everhart on Friday, August 28th at the Orion Schoolhouse and Chapel in Jefferson. The reading will begin at 11 am in the chapel with light refreshments served in the schoolhouse afterward. The event will feature a reading from Donna’s newest novel, Women of a Promiscuous Nature, followed by a reception with light refreshments.
This event is free but registration is required due to capacity limitations of the venue.
About Donna’s Latest Novel:
Women of a Promiscuous Nature
“Donna Everhart writes like your neighbor who has come over to tell you of folks she’s worrying about.” – Kimberly Brock, author of The Fabled Earth
The day Ruth Foster’s life changes begins the same way as many others—with a walk through her North Carolina hometown toward the diner where she works. But on this day, Ruth is stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health clinic. Women like Ruth—young, unmarried, living alone—must undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.
Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some, like 15-year-old Stella Temple, are brought in at their family’s request. For Stella, even the Colony’s hardships seem like a respite from her nightmarish home life.
Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.
Donna Everhart is the USA Today bestselling author of authentic, vivid Southern fiction, including the Southeastern Library Association Award-winning The Road to Bittersweet, Indie Next Pick and Amazon Book of the Month, The Education of Dixie Dupree, The Forgiving Kind, The Moonshiner’s Daughter, and The Saints of Swallow Hill.
Her sixth novel, When the Jessamine Grows, an Amazon Top Ten Book of the Month, releases January 23, 2024.
Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, she now lives with her husband in the small town of Dunn, North Carolina where she is currently working on her next novel. She’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, Historical Novel Society, and is the spokesperson for the MaryJanesFarm Book Club.
