In the mid-20th century, Henry Beam was a promising young poet from Cleveland County. On a trip to Paris, he returned with poems he claimed were saved from a Nazi death camp. This became his undoing as allegations of plagiarism cost him his job and career.
Three decades later, Beam broke his silence and told his life story to a UNC graduate student. What she discovers is a complex experience in France: Beam’s love affair, his sketchy situation with a right-wing politician and his encounter with a mysterious man who supposedly gave him the poems.
This is the plot of “A Stone For Bread” (Livingston Press/2015), the second novel by Greensboro writer Miriam Herin.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Herin about her latest book.
Herin will speak at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro on Nov. 1, Literary Bookpost in Salisbury on Nov. 14 and McIntyre's Books in Pittsboro on Nov. 15.
