BOOK CLUB | MAY
May 6, 2025: The Great Divide – by Cristina Henriquez. Diane Nescio will lead the discussion for the May meeting.
The Great Divide is a moving novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, highlighting those who lived, loved, and worked there. The story is told through several characters thatinclude a local fisherman, his son, a 16-year- old stow-away from Barbados, and a medical researcher aiming to eliminating malaria. On the steamy isthmus of Panama, the world is about to change. Land will disappear, the backs of mountains will be broken, and two oceans will collide, forever altering world navigation. It is 1907, and there is on-going activity surrounding the construction of the Panama Canal, perhapsthe “greatest feat of engineering in history”. It is 1907, and amidst all this continuous clatter of steam shovels, pickaxes, and raindrops, the story is also told through silence: the silence between father and son; or a mother with a long-held secret; and the painful silence of an empty marriage. Henríquez effortlessly weaves together multiple lives, yet the story moves seamlessly through many perspectives, capturing the lives touched by the dual act of construction and destruction. The Atlantic and Pacific will be joined, and America will profit from it for the better part of a century. The weight of this is clearly felt by the men and women swept up in the Canal’s creation. Some of them may raise their voices against it, others may try to hide from it, but none of them can ultimately stop it. The novel is a portrait of contrasts: where the land feels both fragile and unshakable; where people are disposable; and, yet every life feels vital. Henriquez’ first book was a collection of short stories published in 2006, and her debut novel, The World in Half , was published in 2009. She is best known for her 2014 novel The Book of Unknown Americans. Her father is from Panama and came to the U.S. in 1971 to attend college. Her mother is from New Jersey and worked in Delaware public schools. Henriquez was born in Delaware, attended schools in the U.S., and spent her summers in Panama.
MAY 6, 2025 The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez. A sweeping novel highlighting the intersecting lives of the characters involved during the building of the Panama Canal. Diane Nescio will lead the discussion for the May meeting.
JUNE 3, 2025
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. Historical thriller about a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D,C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. Barbara Dukart will lead the discussion for the June meeting.
Please join us on May 6, 2025, at 4:00 pm in the Women’s Lounge as we discuss The Great Divide.
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