DISCUSSION GUIDES

Summary: Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power.

Summary: A love and adventure story with a philosophical perspective, this new speculative fiction novel explores the individual’s quest for purpose in a richly-imagined AI future.

Summary: This “unwavering triumph” (The New York Times Book Review) about fragile family bonds introduces us to Evangeline on her wedding weekend, as a dead whale is trapped in the Winter Island harbor, the groom might be lost at sea, and her absent mother has shown up out of the blue.

Summary: Based on true events, A Ritchie Boy, is the inspiring tale of Eli Stoff, a Jewish Austrian immigrant who becomes a US Army intelligence officer during WWII, triumphs over adversity, and finds his place in America.

Summary: Love from the Vortex and Other Poems, an archeological exploration on love and intimacy, charts Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s journey of finding and losing love over the span of three decades with six different men who came into her life at various times, but also offers a universal take on what can happen when one seeks love and connection with others, and the lessons that follow when that connection and love is lost.

Summary: Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, And Now She’s Gone explores the nature of secrets — and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.

Summary: Different Strokes chronicles the rise of the Williams sisters, as well as other champions of color, closely examining how African Americans are collectively faring in tennis, on the court and off.

Summary: Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.

Summary: What appears to be a story of mothers and daughters, of sisterhood put to the test, of adolescent love and grown-up misconduct, and of history’s long reach, becomes a provocative and compelling exploration of America’s failure to find a language to talk about race.

Summary: Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama.