MATTAPOISETT — Roxana Robinson, author of the recently published historical novel "Dawson's Fall," will speak at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library as the first event in the Purrington Lecture Series on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.

Dawson’s Fall is set in Charleston, South Carolina and draws on the Robinson family letters and journals. According to Publishers Weekly “Robinson bases her formidable novel on the lives of her great-grandparents, exposing the fragile and horrific state of affairs in the American South two decades after the end of the Civil War. Robinson’s descriptive and imaginative prose sings; this book is a startling reminder of the immoral and lasting brutality visited on the South by the institution of slavery.” 

The Purrington Lecture Series is sponsored by the Mattapoisett Library Trust. Other events in this series include “The Super Bowl New England Patriots (as seen through the eyes of the team physician)” lecture hosted by Dr.  Bertram Zarins on Sunday, Nov. 3, and a holiday concert by the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble on Sunday, Dec. 15. These programs also start at 2 p.m.