Moke Hill READS Book Club

Mar 29, 2021 by contributor

We are doing a ZOOM meeting this month.  If you want to join the conversation, send an email to juliamokehill@gmail.com

 April 6, 2021, 7 PM.  Moloka’i, byAlan Brennert.    Set in Hawaii more than a century ago, this is the story of Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, who dreams of visiting far-off lands like her merchant seaman father. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end—but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.

May 4, 2021, 7 PM.  The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate.  Wingate – bestselling author of Before We Were Yours – was inspired by historic “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War.  Her three fictional young women – a freed slave, a disposed belle, and a creole – travel to Texas in 1875 looking for lost family and fortunes.  A parallel plot follows a school teacher in rural Louisiana in 1987, who discovers the story of these searchers and how they connect to the lives of her current students.

June 1, 2021, 7 PM.  They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, by Jo Ann Levy.  “Seeing the Elephant” was a contemporary euphemism for participating in a grand life adventure, even if the outcome was uncertain.  The California Gold Rush, the elephant of the 1850s, is generally described as an exclusively male event.  Drawing on diaries, letters, news articles, and other first-hand accounts, the various roles women played are brought to life, adding humor, poignancy, and depth to this epic time.  AUTHOR VISIT. Jo Ann Levy lives in Sutter Creek and will join us for this meeting!!

Moke Hill Reads Book Club:  First Tuesday of every month – Zoom meetings for now! No commitment, No attendance taken, No membership, No dues. For everyone interested in good books and discussions about them. Sponsored by the Mokelumne Hill Friends of the Library. Send us your email address or watch for announcements on mokehill.org and other news sources. Contact Janet Dock: janetdock@me.com or Julia Costello: juliamokehill@gmail.com.