ECW Book Club
Host: Pat Holmes
10 am - 11 am, Chapel Family Room
January 20
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (author of The Rose Code)
The story of five young women living in a downtrodden women’s boarding house in Washington, D.C., during the McCarthy Era, when everyone was afraid of Russian espionage. Each of them has their own goals, whether marriage, career, or anonymity. Two murders in the building on Thanksgiving Day test the family they have formed.
February 17
Circling the Sun by Paula McClain
This is the amazing story of Beryl Markham, daughter of a British colonist and horse trainer during the 1920’s and 30’s in Kenya, Africa. She breaks the barriers and social norms for women as a champion racehorse trainer and was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in a single-engine plane alone. Among the men in her life is Denys Finch Hatton, as depicted in Out of Africa.
March 17
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
The story of a young woman who breaks with tradition in 1950s India and deserts her brutal husband. She becomes the most sought-after henna artist among the high-caste and royal women in Jaipur, but her success is undermined when a sister born after she left her village arrives, damaging her carefully crafted world. This is a view of post-Gandhi/post-independence India struggling to find its identity after the British leave.
April 21
The Art Spy by Michelle Young
A young French woman is working at the Louvre in Paris. After the Nazis entered Paris during World War II and set up camp in the museum, she played a heroic role in saving priceless art.
May 19
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
It’s the rage right now. It’s a story of a life told in a series of letters written by Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired lawyer, exploring themes of love, grief, forgiveness, and personal transformation. I have a feeling it is in the same genre as Galileo’s Daughter. Something to add to our list of new genres explored this year.
Patricia Hunt Holmes spent 30 years as a public finance attorney with a large international law firm, specializing in nonprofit healthcare finance and rural electric cooperative finance. Consistently listed in Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, and Top Lawyers in Houston, she was a frequent speaker at national public finance and health care conferences. Patricia has also served on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Tennessee, and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She has written and published in the fields of intellectual history and law.
In addition to her legal career, Patricia has been a member and board member of several social service organizations throughout Houston, including the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast Women’s Initiative, Dress for Success Houston, the University of Houston Women’s Studies Program, University of Houston Law Review Board of Directors, is a Trustee of the Houston Grand Opera, and Houston Justice for Our Neighbors.
A sneak peek at some titles we're eyeing 👀 for summer!
Summer Reading
Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill
This is the story of the Schuyler sisters, born to a wealthy colonist in the Hudson Valley just before the outbreak of the American War of Independence. The quiet one marries Alexander Hamilton when he is a penniless immigrant. In contrast, the flamboyant sister marries a rake and has flirtations with many of the most significant men of her age, both in Europe and the colonies, including her sister’s husband.
Two Old Women by Velma Walli
This is a novel retelling of an Alaskan Indigenous folk tale about a tribe living above the Arctic Circle. When they are starving and freezing in the Winter, they decide to relocate, leaving the two oldest women behind to stretch rations. Desperate circumstances compel the women to use their ingenuity to survive.
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Menai
This is a fictional story about a Tunisian peasant who was the village beekeeper. Militant revolutionaries appear in the village, trying to persuade the villagers to vote for their candidate and buy them off with black clothes they don’t wear. When an outside force kills his bees, threatening the village, he takes extraordinary steps to revive the colony, travelling across the country to seek help, which comes from an unlikely source far away. Translated from the French.