There are only 20 tickets available for this event!

Across the country books are being banned, particularly books that highlight LGBTQ+ experiences, and content relating to Black history and the Black lived-experience. In the most oppressive schools, libraries are being eliminated all together and being turned into detention centers. As advocates for informational freedom we hope that this book club will bring greater awareness to banned books and share information about who is banning them and why. We are partnering with Emerald Cocktail Kitchen for two series of meetups: Late Winter/Early Spring, which will run from January-April; and Autumn, which will run from September-November.

For March we are reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.
In Sterling, New Hampshire, 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents.

Even those who were not inside the school that morning find their lives in an upheaval, including Alex Cormier. The superior court judge assigned to the Houghton case, Alex—whose daughter, Josie, witnessed the events that unfolded—must decide whether or not to step down. She’s torn between presiding over the biggest case of her career and knowing that doing so will cause an even wider chasm in her relationship with her emotionally fragile daughter. Josie, meanwhile, claims she can’t remember what happened in the last fatal minutes of Peter’s rampage. Or can she? And Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis Houghton, ceaselessly examine the past to see what they might have said or done to compel their son to such extremes. Nineteen Minutes also features the return of two of Jodi Picoult’s characters—defense attorney Jordan McAfee from The Pact and Salem Falls, and Patrick DuCharme, the intrepid detective introduced in Perfect Match.

By purchasing a ticket to join this event, you're granted access to Emerald Cocktail Kitchen for this private book discussion and social. Your ticket includes the specialty mocktail or cocktail that corresponds with the book!