About us
Are you an avid reader seeking to connect with fellow literary enthusiasts in the heart of the Palmetto State? We invite you to join us! Each month, we will explore a diverse selection of genres – from gripping thrillers and insightful non-fiction to heartwarming fiction and captivating historical tales.
Our meetings will feature relaxed, engaging discussions where we share perspectives, discover new authors, and collectively enjoy the magic of storytelling. Readers of all paces and levels are welcome! Join us for lively conversation and enriching company!
Upcoming events
4
Discussion of ‘The Wedding People’ (2024) by Alison Espach
Il Focolare Pizzeria, 2150 Sumter St, Columbia, SC 29201, Columbia, SC, USJoin us for dinner and a discussion of the book The Wedding People by Alison Espach.
Restaurant: Il Focolare Pizzeria
Summary (from Goodreads):
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.
In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
Page Count: 367
Genre: Romance, Fiction
Year Published: 2024
This book is available through local public library systems in both physical and electronic formats (Lexington Public Library, Richland County Library).
Bring, at least, 3 observations and 3 questions about the book (keeping this open-ended, but this could include the characters, specific plot details, comparing it to other books, and critiques of the discussed book).
6 attendees
Discussion of ‘The Correspondent’ (2025) by Virginia Evans
Location not specified yetJoin us for dinner and a discussion of the book The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.
Restaurant: TBD
Summary (from Goodreads):
Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime. Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever find.
Page Count: 304
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2025
This book is available through local public library systems in both physical and electronic formats (Lexington Public Library, Richland County Library).
Bring, at least, 3 observations and 3 questions about the book (keeping this open-ended, but this could include the characters, specific plot details, comparing it to other books, and critiques of the discussed book).
3 attendees
Discussion of ‘The First Witch of Boston’ (2025) by Andrea Catalano
Location not specified yetJoin us for dinner and a discussion of the book The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano.
Restaurant: TBD
Summary (from Goodreads):
Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings.
But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver. And when personal tragedies, religious hysteria, and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk.
Inspired by actual diary entries and court records, The First Witch of Boston is at once the riveting story of a woman unjustly accused and a love story set amid the political and social turmoil of both Old and New England. Harrowing, and with a deep understanding of the human heart, history is brilliantly imagined.
Page Count: 326
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year Published: 2025
This book is available through local public library systems in both physical and electronic formats (Lexington Public Library, Richland County Library).
Bring, at least, 3 observations and 3 questions about the book (keeping this open-ended, but this could include the characters, specific plot details, comparing it to other books, and critiques of the discussed book).
3 attendees
Discussion of ‘Buckeye’ (2025) by Patrick Ryan
Location not specified yetJoin us for dinner and a discussion of the book Buckeye by Patrick Ryan.
Restaurant: TBA
Summary (from Goodreads):
In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.
Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.
Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.
Page Count: 464
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year Published: 2025
This book is available through local public library systems in both physical and electronic formats (Lexington Public Library, Richland County Library).
It can be purchased through retailers such Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Bring, at least, 3 observations and 3 questions about the book (keeping this open-ended, but this could include the characters, specific plot details, comparing it to other books, and critiques of the discussed book).
1 attendee
Past events
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