BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//sebbo.net//ical-generator//EN NAME:Somerset County Library System of New Jersey X-WR-CALNAME:Somerset County Library System of New Jersey BEGIN:VEVENT UID:d898ada4-42a4-4ae1-824f-14c6db71b326 SEQUENCE:0 DTSTAMP:20260902T203505Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240226T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240226T160000 SUMMARY:Afternoon Book Discussion LOCATION:Peapack and Gladstone branch\nPeapack and Gladstone branch X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Peapack and Gladstone bran ch;X-APPLE-RADIUS=10;X-TITLE=Peapack and Gladstone branch:geo:40.7171066,- 74.6593562 GEO:40.7171066;-74.6593562 DESCRIPTION:"Afterlife" by Julia Alvarez. Discussion moderated by Library Staff..\nhttps://sclsnj.libnet.info/event/10131271 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

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New book discussion participants are always welcome.\n

Antonia Vega\, the immigrant writer at the center of \;Afte rlife\, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retir ed from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband\, Sa m\, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears\, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant\, un documented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction i n the literature she loves--lines from her favorite authors play in her he ad like a soundtrack--but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words. \;

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Afterlife \;is a compact\, nimble \, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust\, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families\, inclu ding--maybe especially--members of our human family? How do we live in a b roken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do w e stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

\nhttps://sclsnj.libn et.info/event/10131271 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sclsnj.libnet.info/event/10131271 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR