Time Magazine called Douglas Kennedy "The most famous American writer you never heard of." Kennedy, a graduate of Bowdoin College who lives part time in Wiscasset, has sold more than five million copies of his novels in England and in France, where he has been honored by the Ministry of Culture. But Kennedy has only recently been recognized in his home country.

In his latest novel, "Leaving the World", Douglas Kennedy tackles big themes. The story follows Jane Howard, a brilliant academic who discovers in the course of her adulthood that the world can be cruel, and that life is written largely by a series of random events.

Douglas Kennedy appears at Longfellow books in Portland tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. His latest novel, "Leaving The World", was a number one best seller in France, and has just been released in paperback here in the U.S. by Atria Books. On of his books, "The Woman in the Fifth", is being made into a film starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ethan Hawke.