February Book Groups

The library will be closed on Sunday, March 31 for Easter. Regular hours will resume on Monday, April 1, at 9am.

Start Date

Join us for these upcoming book discussions at Wilmette Public Library. 

CLASSICS & CONTEMPORARY

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright Tuesday, February 8th, 10:30am

Fred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the city’s sewer system. This is the devastating premise of this scorching novel, a masterpiece that Richard Wright was unable to publish in his lifetime. Written between his landmark books Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945), at the height of his creative powers, it would eventually see publication only in drastically condensed and truncated form in the posthumous collection Eight Men (1961). Now, for the first time, by special arrangement with the author's estate, the full text of this incendiary novel about race and violence in America, the work that meant more to Wright than any other (“I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration”), is published in the form that he intended, complete with his companion essay, “Memories of My Grandmother.” Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson, contributes an afterword. (From the publisher).

Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and eaudiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.

Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.

 

NOVELS @ NIGHT

When No One Is Watching

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole Wednesday, February 16th, 7:00pm

We will be discussing When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole. Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo. But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised. (From the publisher)

Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and eaudiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.

Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.

 

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS/WPL BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 

The Daughters of Yalta

The Daughters of Yalta by Catherine Grace Katz Wednesday, February 23rd, 11:00am

Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days. (From the publisher)

Find a copy of the book here. Ebook and eaudiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.

Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.