Ten
men are carrying a log. Nine are on the small end. One is on the heavy end. You
want to help…which end will you lift.
20 Bookers welcomed Dallas author, Monica Shaw, to the
home of Melanie Prebis to discuss this month’s selection, The Rainwater Secret,
seven years in the making. Many thanks to Bonnie Magee our food czar for
organizing lunch for our guest, and to everyone who contributed to the yummy
spread. Not only can Bookers read but evidently, we can cook too!
As you know,
the magic of Facebook can connect us all to each other, which is where I came
across Monica’s historical novel last summer. After both MN and I read
it, we agreed it was a fascinating story. Monica and I connected through social
media and she graciously accepted our offer to address Bookers today. We
finally met in person in November at the Texas Book Festival in Austin. Monica
donates a portion of her sales to the Medical Missionaries of Mary, so she also
fits right in with our Pinnacle Women’s Club philanthropic principles.
Books introduce us to people you want to either invite
to dinner or ban from the house…some test our conscience and challenge our
trust in human nature and most transport us to worlds we may have already
discovered, others we hope to visit, but all offer a slice of life we most
likely haven’t encountered.
We began our 14th year of Bookers leaving
our home state of Texas to visit Oregon, California, Hawaii, Vegas, Georgia, and
Alabama, then took flight to a small hockey town in Sweden. We moved on to a
shanty boat on the Mississippi River; spent some time in England with goats and
sheep and in Italy during the German occupation. Last month we visited an
elephant sanctuary in Thailand and the rest of the year, we will be in
Galveston during the 1900 hurricane, in Amish country in Pennsylvania, and in
the inner circle of the third President of the United States…but not before our
guest author takes us from Maghull, England in 1946 to Nigeria.
Anna Goodwill, a twenty-nine year old school teacher
by trade not tied to either solemn or simple vows of the Catholic Church joined
the Medical Missionaries of Mary, a religious institute of the Church dedicated
to providing health care to the underdeveloped regions of the world. With her
mother and father dead and her hopes for marriage and children dashed, she
volunteered to teach leper children in Africa. Her story is one of resiliency
and deep faith in humanity, possessing the moral fiber to place the needs of
others in front of her own. Anna witnessed deep love and unbearable loss but the
plight of leprosy resulted in her own salvation. She was an angel of hope for
the children and adults…her reward “a giant smile” was payment for services
rendered.
Monica’s journey began while reading The
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and
Annie Barrows as her great aunt Lily Murphey (Anna Goodwill in the book) kept
popping into her head as though she was putting Monica on the path to write her
story. Monica detailed her research efforts and travels, showing us a slideshow
of actual footage from the area in Nigeria that the Medical Missionaries of
Mary and Anna lived and worked. Letters played a significant role in the story
development…the lost art of letter writing replaced in today’s world by
anything electronic and fast. Ninety percent of the novel is factual, the other
ten, literary license for character development and plot. She also shared with
us the agony of “editing,” cover design, and stories of the real-life
characters depicted in the novel. We talked about the stigmatism attached to
leprosy and the different beliefs about the origins of the disease…some
believing it is highly contagious, others thinking it is hereditary, while some
latch onto the idea that it is heaven’s punishment to negative people. In 1999,
the World Health Organization delisted Nigeria from the list of high endemic
nations with leprosy. Recent reports indicate the country has relapsed
prompting the minister of their federal government to launch a five-year
program to end in 2020 calling on the media and civil society to propagate the
message that it is curable and treatment is free.
For more information and stories, please visit
Monica’s website: http://www.therainwatersecret.com.
She hopes to experience life in the same area that her great aunt Lily devoted
her life to, and follow up this debut with her own story. Stay tuned!
On the business side
The Memorial golf tournament honoring Jane Freer,
Chuck Turner, and Carla Malin will be held on March 17th. Since
Bookers’ has yet to “dedicate” Jane’s brick in her beloved Memory Garden, we
thought an appropriate time would be following the tournament. We will gather
behind the putting green around 2:00 or 2:30 to pay our respects. Please bring
a memory, a prayer, a funny story…anything to share in honor of our friend and
fellow Booker.
Beverly Dossett reports that Chris Cleave (Little
Bee) is writing a sequel to Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. We
anxiously await its publication.
COLOR
CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY
CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
April
10 The
Uncertain Season by Texas author Ann Howard Creel
Follows the lives of
three women in the aftermath of the 1900 hurricane that devastated
Galveston…one living a privileged life, her disgraced and flamboyant cousin,
and an unnamed girl living on the streets.
Home
of Sandy Molander
Reviewer:
TBD
May
15 Change of date due to travel plans
To Everything A Season
– Sherri Schaeffer, a debut set in Amish country in Lancaster Pennsylvania
where two worlds collide forcing them together.
Home
of Donna Walter
Reviewer:
TBD
Summer
Read: America’s
First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie
Thomas Jefferson’s eldest
daughter, Martha, “Patsy” becomes the keeper of the secrets and her father’s
confidant after her mother’s death and his appointment as the American Minister
to France.
Missionaries
bind up broken hearts, dry tears, and set families free…we can follow their
lead by focusing on what it takes to live with such generosity toward others.
Happy Reading,
JoDee
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