Get Lit: T. Kira Madden
Join WNYC and The New York Public Library's Get Lit! Book Club, hosted by Alison Stewart from All of It. Each month, New Yorkers come together to read and discuss a popular title, culminating in a live author talk, book discussion, and a special musical performance.
In October we will be reading Whidbey by T. Kira Madden!
From the Publisher: Birdie Chang didn’t know anything about Whidbey Island when she chose it, only that it was about as far away as she could get from her own life. She’s a woman on the run, desperate for an escape from the headlines back home and the look of concern in her girlfriend’s eyes—and from Calvin Boyer, the man who abused her as a child and who’s now resurfaced. On her way, she has an unnerving encounter with a stranger on the ferry who offers her a proposition, a sinister solution and plan for revenge.
But Birdie isn’t the only girl Calvin harmed back then. There’s also Linzie King, a former reality TV star who recently wrote all about it in her bestselling memoir. Though the two women have never met, their stories intertwine. Once Birdie arrives on Whidbey, she finally cracks the book’s spine, only to find too much she recognizes in its pages. Soon after, on the other side of the country, Calvin’s loving mother, Mary-Beth, receives a shocking phone call from the police: her only son has been murdered.
Calvin’s death sets into motion a series of events that sends each woman on a desperate search for answers. A complex whodunit told from alternating points of view, Whidbey is searingly perceptive and astonishingly original. Exploring the long reach of violence and our flawed systems of incarceration and rehabilitation, this is a tense and provocative debut that’s sure to incite crucial questions about the pursuit of justice and who has real power over a story: the one who lives it, or the one who tells it?
T. Kira Madden will join Alison Stewart for a conversation and book signing on Monday, October 26 at 6 pm. Musical guest TBA.
Tickets are free, but seats are first come, first serve and not guaranteed. Doors open at 5:30 pm
