Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz to discuss

Breaking news to your phone. US mobile only. No password required.

Broadway + NYC

Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Off Broadway

Cabaret

Dance

Opera

Classical Music

West End / UK

International

Canada

Australia / New Zealand

Europe

Asia

Latin America

Africa / Middle East

Entertainment

Ctrl + K to open · Esc to close

The author discusses her book about community-based resistance during the Civil War era at The Music Hall Lounge in Portsmouth.

Most Popular

Get all the top news & discounts for New Hampshire & beyond. No password required.

On Tuesday, October 20 at 7pm, writer Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz will visit The Music Hall Lounge with her new book, THE BALLAD OF FUGITIVE William Parker . In 1851, a Quaker farming community turned Underground Railroad stronghold, Christina, PA, became the place of “the first shots of the Civil War.” This new book from the New York Times bestselling author is for fans of Master Slave Husband Wife and Django Unchained.

Get all the top news & discounts for New Hampshire & beyond.

The 7pm event includes a moderated author discussion, followed by an audience Q&A. It will be held at The Music Hall Lounge at 131 Congress St., in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The year, 1851. The place, a Quaker farming community turned Underground Railroad stronghold, where a Maryland enslaver had journeyed in pursuit of four men who'd fled his plantation years before. In a few hours, he'd be dead…and twenty-seven men from the village of Christiana would be rounded up and put on trial. Not for his murder, but for treason—for waging war against the United States, at a time when it was a crime against the government to obstruct an enslaver looking to reclaim his “property.”

This is the story of what happened in Christiana that September morning—and in the ensuing “trial of the century,” which saw the president himself advise the prosecution on strategy and a sitting congressman serve as lead attorney for the defense. But The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker is also a much larger tale, one spanning decades, following a whole startlingly diverse community of abolitionists in their fight to convince their fellow Americans of the subversive idea that now found itself on trial: that the nation ought to live up the ideals it was founded on, and respect all men as equals.

It's a story that whisks readers from the quiet farmlands of Lancaster County—where a self-emancipated man named William Parker , whom legend had it bullets could not kill, rallied his neighbors to ride out each night to battle the slavecatchers who stalked their countryside—to Philadelphia's genteel Society Hill, where socialite Harriet Forten Purvis had the ear of the mayor (and a cellar filled with fugitives). It's a stylish, propulsive, intimately human tale of bravery, ingenuity, and hope—and of ordinary people with little in common who came together to stand against injustice…and won.

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is the New York Times bestselling author of Dr. Mütter's Marvels, as well as eight collections of poetry. A seventh generation Pennsylvanian, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, the novelist Ernest Cline, and their children.

Nominate your favorite local productions and performers before the deadline on October 31, 2026.

SIX North American Tour Reveals New Cast

Exclusive: THE SOUND OF MUSIC Tour Star Cayleigh Capaldi Performs the Title Song

PAPERBOY World Premiere To Be Presented By Weathervane Theatre

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING to be Presented at Weathervane Theatre

When are you seeing ?

Get an Alert Each Time Stephi Wild Writes

BroadwayWorld TV

Breaking Broadway news & show discounts. No password required.

Breaking alerts by text. US mobile only.

POPULAR

Sign up for announcements and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows!

© 2026 — Copyright Wisdom Digital Media , all rights reserved. Privacy Policy

Episode

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/new-hampshire/article/Cristin-OKeefe-Aptowicz-Will-Bring-New-Book-The-Ballad-of-Fugitive-William-Parker-to-the-Music-Hall-Lounge-20260924)._