I’ve chosen four novels for us to read, one each week: This Other Eden (Paul Harding), Fire Exit (Morgan Talty), The Road to Dalton (Shannon Bowring), and How to Read a Book: A Novel (Monica Wood). All have been written within the last couple of years, and all describe a Maine very unlike Sarah Orne Jewett’s.

Harding’s novel tells the story of Malaga Island, settled by freed enslaved people in the 18th century and still home to their descendants in the early 20th; Morgan Talty’s book focuses on the lives of the Penobscot people today; The Road to Dalton uncovers for readers the Maine of small towns and interlocking lives; and Monica Wood tells a story full of unexpected turns about, among other things, incarceration and the wisdom of African Grey Parrots.

But those are only my choices: participants will be encouraged to bring recent poetry and prose to share; everything can be distributed digitally beforehand.

I favor discussions that are wide-ranging and open; no trigger warnings!

Marge Irvine teaches part-time at the University of Maine and writes narrative nonfiction. She lives in Brooklin with her husband, William Irvine.