Virtual Community Book Club: Washington Black
Join us for Community Book Club! We’ll be meeting on Wednesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Click here to sign up for this virtual meeting!
Interested in attending in-person? Click here for details about our in-person meeting.
- Who: Everyone welcome
- How much: Free
- Which book: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- Where to get a copy: Borrow at WPL or buy at Armchair Books (mention the book club and receive 15% off)
Synopsis: In 1830, two English brothers arrive at a Barbados sugar plantation, bringing with them a darkness beyond what the slaves have already known. Washington Black – an eleven-year-old field slave – is horrified to find himself chosen to live in the quarters of one of these men. But his new master is not as Washington expects him to be. He is the eccentric Christopher Wilde – naturalist, explorer, inventor and abolitionist – whose obsession with perfecting a winged flying machine disturbs all who know him. Washington is initiated into a world of wonder: a world where the night sea viewed from a hilltop explodes with light, where a simple cloth canopy can propel a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning – and where two people separated by an impossible divide can begin to see each other as human.
Read ahead: In March, we’re reading The Circus Train by Amita Parikh; in April, we’ll discuss Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus; and in May, we’re reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.
