Hey! Look! A contest! Enter to win a trip to Salem, MA.

Dear Faithful Readers, I set my novels, The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places, in Salem, MA because it is my hometown, one of the places on earth that I know best. As a small city, Salem is rich in history -- it has lived through prosperity as a shipping town, through notoriety as the epicenter of witch hunts, and it still enjoys a literary burnish as home to Nathaniel Hawthorne and others.

Now, I invite you to enter The Map of True Places sweepstakes for your chance to win a trip to visit my city. Destination Salem and William Morrow are sponsoring the sweepstakes, and many local shops, restaurants, and museums have stepped forward to build a fun and interesting weekend for you in my town!

So enter the sweepstakes today -- and please tell your friends they can enter, too. I hope to see you soon in Salem! In the meantime, head over to my website to download excerpts from The Map of True Places.

Best of luck,

Brunonia Barry