Tell City library hosts local author Jaelynn Page book signing

Jaelynn Page brought a hometown name to one of Tell City’s most accessible public rooms on Saturday, April 18, when the Perry County Public Library’s Tell City branch hosted a book signing from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2328 Tell Street. For a county library that serves as a free gathering place as much as a lending site, the event gave residents a direct way to meet a local writer and support a first published book close to home.

Page signed copies of War of Broken Hearts, the opening title in The War of Broken Hearts series. Retail listings show the book was published Jan. 20, 2026, in paperback and hardcover editions, with the hardcover listed at 531 pages. The novel follows exiled Princess Adara Rhyes and centers on prophecy, enchanted water on the island of Andreilia and a revenge plot against the empire that forced her from power.

The signing also fit the larger role the Tell City branch plays in Perry County. Perry County Public Library describes the branch as a community hub for all ages, and its April calendar also included teen programming, story times and a Friends of the Library spring book sale. In a county where Tell City had 7,506 residents in the 2020 Census and Perry County had 19,170, a public event like this can draw attention precisely because it offers something many towns do not: a low-cost, open-door venue where local creative work gets a spotlight.

That public role has deep roots. The library system traces its beginnings to 1893, when 30 Tell City residents each contributed $3 to form the Tell City Library Association. A new Tell City Public Library later opened in 1917 at 9th and Franklin Streets with help from a $10,000 Carnegie Corporation grant, part of a long history of local investment in shared civic space.

Today, the system also operates a Cannelton branch and a bookmobile, and the Friends of the Perry County Public Library supports those services across the county. For Page, the signing gave a first novel a local platform. For readers, it turned the Tell City branch into something more than a stop for books, a place where Perry County talent could be seen, met and celebrated in person.