Joshua Hyde Library Armchair Travelers

BOOK DISCUSSION SERIES 2016-17 Wednesday, September 14 - 6:30pm BOOK DISCUSSION OPENING EVENT - AUTHOR JILLIAN HENSLEY Against a backdrop of events in the War of the Spanish Succession, both in the New World and the Old, Hensley weaves together two events of 1704: the well-known February raid on Deerfield by Indians under French command; and the abduction in August of four young boys of the Rice family from the hamlet of Chauncy (Westborough), Massachusetts, by a small band of Mohawks from the Jesuit mission of Kahnawake in Canada. Jillian Hensley and her family moved to Westborough, Massachusetts, from South Africa in 1979. She has been a resident of Florence for almost four years. *Please sign up at the library or call 347-2512*

Wed., October 12 6:30 pm Lafayette in the Somewhat United States By Sarah Vowell Led by Sandy Quigley Chronicling General Lafayette’s years in Washington’s army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary war. Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles.

Wed., November 16 6:30 pm Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi Led by Pat Barnicle Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenthcentury Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery.

* NEW DATE * Wed., January 4 6:30 pm The Nightingale By Kristin Hannah Led by Bobbie Helbig The novel --an epic love story and family drama set in France at the dawn of World War II--is a profound and compelling portrait of two estranged sisters, living in a city under siege and a country at war, where sometimes surviving means doing the unthinkable.

Wed., February 8 6:30pm Circling the Sun

Wed., March 8 6:30pm Lizette’s List

By Paula McLain Led by Carol Mitchell

By Susan Vreeland Led by Ellen Duzak

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Wed., April 12 6:30pm The Japanese Lover By Isabel Allende Led by Jane Zavistoski In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, Alma Belasco’s parents send her away to live in safety with an aunt and uncle in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family’s Japanese gardener. Unnoticed by those around them, a tender love affair begins to blossom. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the two are cruelly pulled apart as Ichimei and his family are declared enemies and forcibly relocated to internment camps run by the United States government.

In 1937, young Lisette Roux and her husband, André, move from Paris to a village in Provence to care for André’s grandfather Pascal. Pascal once worked in the nearby ochre mines and later became a pigment salesman and frame maker; while selling his pigments in Paris, he befriended Pissarro and Cézanne, some of whose paintings he received in trade for his frames. When war breaks out, André goes off to the front, but not before hiding Pascal’s paintings to keep them from the Nazis’ reach.

Wed., May 10 - 6:30pm Final Program Featuring : Culinary Underground We will be pairing a book -to be determined- with a demonstration cooking workshop from Culinary Underground of Southborough. Pre-registration is required! 508-347-2512 This program, and the entire Book Discussion series, is sponsored by the Friends of the JHPL