Gigi Georges, author of the recent bestseller Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America will speak at Porter Memorial Library in Machias on Saturday, Aug. 7.

Based on five years of intimate reporting, Downeast follows five young women as they come of age in stunning but challenged Washington County, Maine — the northernmost county on the Maine coast.  All five girls know the pain and joy of life in an area whose rugged beauty and stoicism mask dwindling populations, vanishing job opportunities, and pervasive opioid addiction.