Eight members were able to attend the Wine and Words meeting on Monday, March 2nd. The following are the list of books discussed:

Sharon Roczniak’s book pick – Five Roses by Alice Zorn

This book tells the story of three women, Fara, Maddy, and Rose who live and meet in Montreal’s historic Pointe St-Charles, a rundown neighbourhood on the way to redevelopment. Amid issues of abandonment, loss, and recovery, the women must confront troubling secrets in order to rebuild their lives. The author connects the lives of these three very different people into a story of strength, resilience, and friendship.

Jo MacLean’s book pick – Nosy Parker by Lesley Crewe

It’s 1967 in Montreal and Audrey Parker has just moved with her dad to Notre-Dame-de-Grace, a neighbourhood in Montreal. Audrey is a lot of things: articulate, disarming, forthright. And, as her father reminds her often, indecently nosy. Audry scribbles every observation down in her notebooks but one topic she really wants answers to is about her mother. Over a year in her life, Audrey discovers the truth about her mother.

Ruth Levkoe’s book pick – On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization by Douglas Murray

Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, Douglas Murray places the latest violence against Jews in its proper historical context. He takes readers on a harrowing journey through the aftermath of the October 7 massacre in Israel, piecing together the exclusive accounts from victims, survivors, and even the terrorists responsible for the atrocities.

Linda Pinkney’s book pick – The Moth by Melody Razak

Melody Razak makes her literary debut with this internationally-acclaimed saga of one Indian family’s trials through the tumultuous partition—the 1947 split of Pakistan from India—exploring its impact on women, what it means to be “othered” in one’s own society, and the redemptive power of family.

Sherri Keller’s book pick – The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

Raja, the narrator of the novel, is a 63-year-old gay philosophy teacher and drag entertainer, a stickler for rules and boundaries, and lives in a tiny Beirut flat with his octogenarian mother, the nosy and unfettered Zalfa. Invited to a writing residency in the US, Raja will use the occasion to relate his life – that is, if you don’t mind him taking the scenic route.

Cynthia Iskiw’s book pick – Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser

If we ever truly believed Jane Austen to be a quiet spinster, scholar Devoney Looser puts that myth to rest in Wild for Austen. Throughout this book, Austen, we learn, was far wilder in her time than we’ve given her credit for, and Looser traces the fascinating and fantastical journey her legacy has taken over the past 250 years.