The Library's Third Thursday Book Club meets to discuss Andrew Krivak's The Bear. 

About the book:

From National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants, and a girl’s journey home.  In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen.  A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature’s dominion.

The Hampstead Public Library welcomes Carrie Brown as the visiting scholar who will facilitate this discussion. Carrie Brown holds a Ph.D. in American Literature and Folklore from the University of Virginia. Working for more than thirty years as freelance history curator, she has developed exhibitions for museums, visitors' centers, and historic sites on a wide range of topics, including industrial history, transportation, and the Civil War. As a curator and speaker, Carrie delights in finding and telling stories about the connections between big historic events and our everyday lives. As a book group facilitator, Carrie guides readers through stories told by others--whether in fiction or nonfiction--exploring how the depth and breadth of human experience can be communicated through the written word. Carrie's appearance occurs thanks to generous funding from New Hampshire Humanities.

About the Big Read program:

Hampstead Public Library is thrilled to announce that during September and October we will be participating in a grant sponsored statewide Big Read program featuring Andrew Krivak's The Bear. There will be book discussions and programs (including an event with the author in Concord) inspired by themes found in the book. Please see our calendar for full details. 

NEA Big Reads is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.