Chloe Dale is a middle-class American mom living the middle-class American mom dream. She’s an artist, her husband’s a professor, and her only son is at New York University. But all hell breaks loose when certain people start encroaching on her perfect life. A poacher hunts in the woods by her house and motherly protectiveness kicks in when her son falls for a girl—­but not any girl, a Croatian refugee who was raised in New Orleans. Now there are hunters, a potential daughter-in-law, and war in Chloe’s world, and fear of the unknown is powerful. Award-winning novelist Valerie Martin is probably best known for Mary Reilly, which was adapted into a film starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. In her latest work, Trespass, Martin beautifully crafts a story that asks uncomfortable questions and ultimately probes, “Who shall inherit America?” Martin discusses and signs copies of her work at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919.