Astoria author Marianne Monson will discuss her new novel, “The Opera Sisters,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 22 in the Cannon Beach Library.

“The Opera Sisters” is based on the true story of sisters Ida and Louise Cook, who, on the eve of World War II, used their passion for opera to attempt the daring rescue of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.

A review of the novel says the story is about “ordinary women (who) find their inner strength, engaged in determined, clandestine actions to give others hope.”

Monson is the author of other works dealing with women’s history, including “Frontier Grit: The Unlikely Stories of Daring Pioneer Women,” and “Women of the Blue and Gray: True Stories of Mothers, Medics, Soldiers, and Spies of the Civil War.”

She also wrote “Her Quiet Revolution: a Novel of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, Frontier Doctor and First Female State Senator.”

Her nonfiction book, “Frontier Grit,” was nominated for the American Library Association’s Amelia Bloomer award. The companion volume, “Women of the Blue and Gray,” was awarded a silver medal by Foreword Reviews.

Monson holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has taught writing at Portland Community College, BYU Hawaii, Clatsop Community College and Texas State University. She is founder and president of a literary nonprofit, The Writer’s Guild.

Monson’s presentation is sponsored by the Cannon Beach Library’s NW Authors Series Committee. The committee hosts an author every month from September through May and presents the Writers Read Celebration in March.