IMPORTANT UPDATE 9/23: Due to a family emergency, the presenter will be joining us via Zoom rather than in person at our Mt. Washington location. You can still view and discuss with us at the library, or you can join from home online.

Now you have something to look forward to on Mondays…

We’re having a very special edition of Fourth Monday Book Club this month featuring The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson, selected by the Kentucky Humanities Council as the centerpiece of their 2021 Kentucky Reads project.

• The discussion will be led by Jayne Moore Waldrop. Waldrop is a writer, attorney, and author of Retracing My Steps. She has two books forthcoming in 2021—a linked story collection, Drowned Town, and a poetry collection, Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poetry. She is a former book columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal and literary liaison at the Carnegie Center of Literacy and Learning in Lexington.
• This program is part of Kentucky Humanities’ statewide literacy initiative, Kentucky Reads. For more information on Kentucky Reads and events taking place throughout the state, visit kyhumanities.org.
• Complimentary copies of the novel, provided by Kentucky Humanities, are available while supplies last. If you would like a copy and plan to join the discussion, please contact e-mail LaDonna at [email protected].

ABOUT THE NOVEL
A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern Black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness. The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive. Crystal Wilkinson offers up Opulence and its people in lush, poetic detail. It is a world of magic, conjuring, signs, and spells, but also of harsh realities that only love—and love that’s handed down—can conquer. At once tragic and hopeful, this captivating novel is a story about another time, rendered for our own.

ABOUT FOURTH MONDAY BOOK CLUB
Book lovers unite on the fourth Monday of the month! Join us for a relaxing evening at the library to discuss our latest book selection chosen by the group. Each meetup will be a new experience and you never know what will happen—we could have a special guest or you might get to lead the discussion (but only if you want!). Our October selection is Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

For ages 18 and up. Just drop in!
Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Questions? Call 543-7675 ext. 2552 or e-mail [email protected].