Peggy Kennedy, author of Approaching Neverland: A Memoir of Epic Tragedy & Happily Ever After, will be on hand to chat about her story at the San Francisco Writers Conference at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, Feb. 12–14.

The Walt Disney Family Museum at the Presidio is joining Kennedy to give away tickets to the museum for a family of four. Kennedy’s story is not the usual fare you’d see in a Disney movie, though. There are some unsettling elements in her account. But she likes to emphasize how she has prevailed, and how her mother was able to find a treatment for her mental illness. In a paroxysm of madness, Kennedy’s mother nearly killed Peggy and her four siblings. An attentive neighbor saved them in time.
Kennedy’s rapid-fire delivery of dialogue keeps the true story moving along.

Kennedy will also appear at the Books Inc. store in Berkeley, 1760 Fourth Street, on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
           
Approaching Neverland: A Memoir of Epic Tragedy & Happily Ever After, by Peggy Kennedy (iUniverse, $29.95)