The “Open Afternoon Book Club” will hold its next meeting in the Story Garden Room on Wednesday, May 18, at 1 p.m. Discussion will focus on At the Water’s Edge, the New York Times best-selling novel by Sara Gruen.
From the author of Water for Elephants, comes a story of love, adventure, and self-discovery. Gruen’s latest period piece opens in Philadelphia in 1944, where Madeline Hyde and her husband Ellis enjoy sheltered lives of privilege; that is until they suddenly find themselves cast out of Philadelphia polite society and cut off financially by Ellis’ father, a former army colonel.
To regain the colonel’s favor and restore the family name, Ellis, his best friend Hank, and a reluctant Maddie set off on a journey to accomplish what the colonel could not: hunt down the Loch Ness monster.
The mission takes the trio to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands. Left behind each day while the men pursue the monster, Maddie finds herself falling in love with the seemingly contemptuous villagers and the tragically stark landscape. Through her experiences and newly formed friendships, Maddie is forced to reckon with her own internal monsters and to look outside of herself to acknowledge the devastation of World War II. Through her unexpected awakening, Maddie embraces a fuller sense of her identity and comes to recognize both the darkness and beauty of humanity and the world at large.
“At the Water’s Edge is a rich, beautiful novel. Elegantly written and compulsively readable, it is at once a gripping love story, a profound examination of the effects of war on ordinary women, and a compelling portrait of female friendship.” — Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale.
Books are available at the circulation desk.
All events at the Cazenovia Public Library are free and open to the public. For more information on the “Open Afternoon Book Club” or other events at the Library, call 315.655.9322 or visit www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.