Monthly Book Club

The library has a monthly book club. Make your reading interactive—join one of our discussion groups and talk about what you're reading!

The selection this month is Lisa Wingate's The Book of Lost Friends.

Wingate  makes history come alive with the dual tale of formerly enslaved Hannie Gossett in 1875 and Benedetta “Benny” Silva in 1987. Punctuating their struggles are real “Lost Friends,” advertisements from a southern Methodist newspaper that featured messages from those searching for loved ones lost and separated by slavery. Hannie’s story starts with the recalled childhood trauma of being separated from her family. Later, when her sharecropper lease is almost up, Hannie catches Juneau Jane, a Creole girl, creeping around her former master’s plantation home, claiming she is the property's rightful heir. Together, the estate's recognized heir, Miss Lavinia, Juneau Jane's half-sister, and Hannie, set off on a harrowing journey west. Modern-day Benny is an English teacher in a struggling Louisiana school, in which her students discover a surprising connection to Hannie’s past that promises to upset the delicate ties that bind the close-knit community.