522. HAVE YOU READ? FIVE NEW NOVELS (Part I)

Margaret Hallissy

(ZOOM Only for January, February, and March) 

January 9: Madeline Bell, The Austen Affair. ISBN 978-1250373519. VIA ZOOM -- “It is a truth universally acknowledged that women since time immemorial (or at least since 1995) have been obsessed with Colin Firth.” Bell’s opening sentence, echoing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, begins the story of Tess Bright. An aspiring actress, Tess has just landed a role in an adaptation of Northanger Abbey. A typical rom-com situation arises: a tense relationship with her co-star, Hugh Balfour. Will hostility morph into attraction, as it did for Elizabeth and Darcy?

February 6: Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore. ISBN 978-1250827951. VIA ZOOM -- “I have hated my mother for most of my life, but it is her face I see as I drown.” Rowan, the central character, does not drown but survives when a storm washes her ashore on an almost-deserted island. A violent storm and an uninhabited island are both common literary tropes for emotion and isolation. Shearwater, off the coast of Antarctica, was once a busy research station, but rising sea levels have caused it to be inhabited only by one family, a man and his children. Rowan’s mysterious arrival leads to the discovery of the Salt family’s own secrets.

March 6: Katie Kitamura, Audition. ISBN 978-0593852323. VIA ZOOM -- “It seemed an unlikely choice, this large establishment in the financial district, so that I stood outside and checked the address, the name of the restaurant, I wondered if I had made a mistake.” The central character’s initial sense of disorientation establishes the mood for Kitamura’s novel. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it explores an unlikely, perhaps mistaken, relationship between a mature woman and a man young enough to be her son. The NPR reviewer calls this novel a cross between a “family drama” and a “psychological thriller.”

10:00 – 12 noon

3 Sessions 

Fridays, January 9, February 6, and March 6

Fee:  $90 

Please Note:  This semester is split into a Part I for Zoom and a Part II for In-Person lectures.  Choose one or both, your preference.  For Zoom, a recorded video will be sent to your email address later that day. Zoom links for each of the Part I sessions are typically emailed on the day before the class around 2:00 p.m. and again the day of the class around 8:00 a.m.