HAVE YOU READ? HISTORY/MYSTERY/COMEDY

Marge Hallissy via Zoom

Sept. 13: Jane Smiley, A Dangerous Business. 
ISBN 978-0525436089
It’s 1851, and the setting is a brothel in California. Eliza Ripple is not your typical lady of the evening; she is a reader, a fan of the detective fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, especially “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Her literary interests help her solve a mystery: why are prostitutes disappearing on a regular basis? They are involved in a “dangerous business,” but still . . . . so many? The Booklist reviewer calls this novel a “nuanced exploration of women’s roles in nineteenth-century American life,” and perhaps it will also encourage a rereading of Poe’s story. 

Oct. 18: Daniel Mason, North Woods. 
ISBN 978-0593597040
It’s colonial Massachusetts, and the setting is a single house, through which the entire history of the United States is narrated. This house, of course, is haunted. The Library Journal reviewer tells the reader to expect “an array of literary styles and genres, including indigenous-abduction narrative, folk ballads, letters, true-crime pulp journalism, insect erotica, and contemporary speculative fiction.” Not your typical ghost story, this novel will provide readers with an American History 101 review in preparation for the November elections.

Nov. 15: Kevin Barry, The Heart in Winter.
ISBN 978-0385550598
It’s 1890, and the setting is a copper mine in Butte, Montana. The protagonist is one Tom Rourke, who fancies himself to be a poet but is also addicted to various substances. He is Irish, and therefore charming, and so unhappily married Polly Gillespie falls in love with him immediately. The two take off to places even farther west, in the process doing dastardly deeds and making passionate love (Publishers Weekly). Barry’s “genre-blending novel” (Library Journal) is a combination of comedy, romance, western, historical, and picaresque literary forms – but will tragedy also befall the two lovers? 

Dec. 13: J. Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs.
ISBN 978-0593319154
It’s the present, and the setting is an old house in Maine, “deserted, rotting, and creepy” (Booklist). Jane Flanagan is a Harvard-educated historian and archivist, whose distant relationship with her late mother brings her back to her old neighborhood. Jane is dealing with her own issues regarding her troubled past and her uncertain future, but she also is hired by the new owner of a neighboring house which may well be haunted. The ensuing investigations lead Jane’s research into the Victorian-era past, the history of the house, the town, and Jane’s own (haunting) childhood memories. 

 [A Zoom link will be sent to you prior to each session, typically on the day before your class and the morning of your class.  If you have any questions or need help getting online, feel free to call us at 516-480-5733 and we’ll get right back to you with assistance.]