Welcome to the website for the OLLI Spring 2026 novels course, titled Novels: A Potpourri of Plots. As usual, I'm offering both an in-person and an online version of the course, more or less on the usual schedule.
Tuesdays, 10:45 to 12:00 is the online Zoom version
Thursdays, 10:45 to 12:00 is the in-person version, in Arsht Hall, Wilmington. Room yet to be assigned.
So please sign up for whichever format you prefer; once registered you can readily switch between the two classes, depending upon what your schedule requires.
And as usual, I'm beginning to post the list of books we will read and discuss. As the course title suggests, for spring term, we're going to read and discuss from various genres, mystery, historical fiction, memoir, biography, even a little touch of science. So here goes, in random order. Once the list is complete, I will include a schedule detailing when we read what. But, as before, first class I'm going to give you choices. You pick the book we're going to read.
P.S. we may decide to "unbalance" my theme: I found a number of really good mysteries, including a new Tana French, coming out in late March, the third, and final, novel in her Cal Hooper series. The first was The Searcher, then The Hunter, finally The Keeper, this March.
Amazon blurb:
In this provocative and "morally complex" mystery from beloved crime writer Denise Mina, new evidence in an old murder case forces one woman to make an impossible choice (The Washington Post). WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO TELL THE TRUTH WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON A LIE?
A year ago, a father and his fiancée were brutally murdered in their opulent London townhouse, sparking the most high-profile murder investigation in recent history. Blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O’Sheil’s evidence put the killer behind bars—or so everyone believes. But since the trial, Claudia’s learned a horrific truth: her evidence and her testimony were wrong. And someone she knows made sure of it. Now, as she takes the stage to give a career-defining speech before London’s elite, Claudia faces a devastating choice. Protect her children and her career with her continued complicity, or blow the whole conspiracy apart and reveal the truth: not only is the real murderer still out there, but they’re in the audience. As Claudia steps toward the microphone, she revisits that fateful night. What really happened? And what will Claudia say?
NOTE: Denise Mina is a well-respected successful Scottish mystery writer who has been on my radar for quite some time. And this book "blew me away." It's not what you might expect, it's a page turner, and the ending is an abrupt surprise. It does include two time periods--the basic plotline of events, but also brief intermittent chapters counting down the minutes until she's scheduled to give a speech when she anguishes over exactly what she's going to say--the truth or a good lie.
Girl Braiding her Hair, Marta Molnar (historical, 401 pps)
Amazon blurb:
She was an innocent . . . until she met Renoir. The greatest artists in Paris never suspected that their favorite model was learning their techniques while she was posing for them. Art schools didn't accept female students, but Suzanne Valadon knew how to fight for what she wanted. By the time she was 15, she’d been a horse walker, a funeral wreath maker, and a circus acrobat. This is the story of a survivor.
"Arousing novel of visionary women a century apart, entwined by the love of art." "This insightful, rich-in-detail novel pays welcome homage to women artists of all eras and the time-crossing power of art as Suzanne, in one urgent, illuminating moment, declares, "I want people to hear a whisper when they look at my art. We were here." BookLife Review
NOTE: the subtitle of this novel is "Inspired by the true story of a revolutionary female artist history forgot." In previous classes, we've talked about the difficulties women have faced getting published, so this term a variation on that theme emerges--other women, artists and scientists--who have been overlooked, forgotten, shoved aside. Also this book is structured around alternate chapters that focus on Ellie, a woman struggling to realize an "impossible" goal, and Suzanne, late 1800s, simply struggling to survive in a world that limits women's choices. We've seen this structure before.
By Any Other Name, Jodi Picoult (historical, 545 pps, but reads easily)
Amazon blurb:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name. “You’ll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women. Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work. Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.
NOTE: Okay, I've succumbed. A couple of class members have suggested this novel, knowing perhaps that I'm a Shakespeare aficionado, but I will not succumb to the false claim that he didn't write those plays. Nevertheless, Bassano did know Christopher Marlowe, a much more likely candidate for the false claims, but then he was murdered. This novel promises to spark some good discussion, and you'll find out more about Renaissance playwrights than you probably want to know, and Renaissance poets, particularly the sonneteers. But here again, we having complementary plots, two women: Melina, a modern writer struggling to get her plays published and performed, and Emilia, a Renaissance unknown, who was in fact the first woman to get her poetry published.
Theo of Golden, Allen Levi (literary novel? 4.7* on AMZ, 4.6* on GoodReads, 399 pps)
Amazon blurb:
New York Times Bestseller: One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden (Georgia). No one knows where he has come from . . . or why. His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers. Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered. A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.
NOTE: This is not like the usual novels we read, but set aside some time when you first begin to read; you're not going to be able to put it down. Check the rankings it got from readers. The Washington Post printed a review titled "How a nearly 70-year-old debut novelist published 2025's breakout hit."
😃 CLASS CHOICES
As we've done in the past, class members will choose a couple of the books they want to read and discuss. We'll do that during the first class meeting.
#1: Memoir or Epistolary
A. The Place of Tides: A Journey to the Land of the Eider Duck and a Life-Changing Encounter with the Women who Gather the Birds' Precious Down, by Jame Rebanks (4.5* on Amazon, 300 pps., Memoir)
Amazon blurb: National Bestseller. One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on. This is the story of that season, the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold. Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.
B. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans (4.6 * on Amazon, 291 pps., Epistolary)
Amazon blurb: #1 New York Times bestseller, and "this year's breakout novel no one saw coming--WSJ). An intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love. • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Elle, Christian Science Monitor. “Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?” Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime. Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
C. The Salt Path, Raynor Winn (4.4* on Amazon, 284 pps. memoir)
Amazon blurb: International Bestseller, Motion Picture starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. The true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England. Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall. Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home—how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.
#2 Assorted
A. The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhorn (4.6* on Amazon, 420 pps. Historical and mystery)
Amazon blurb: New York Times Bestseller, NPR Book of the Year. An historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history. Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
B. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, (4.7* on Amazon, 394 pps. environmental/indigenous people)
Amazon blurb: As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.” Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
C. Melaleuca, Angie Faye Martin (4.1* on Amazon, 419 pps. Debut novel, Aussie mystery)
Amazon blurb: A country town, a brutal murder, a shameful past, a reckoning to come... The injustices of the past and dangers of the present envelop Aboriginal policewoman Renee Taylor, when her unwilling return to the small outback town of her childhood plunges her into the investigation of a brutal murder. Renee Taylor is planning to stay the minimum amount of time in her remote hometown - only as long as her mum needs her, then she is fleeing back to her real life in Brisbane. Seconded to the town's sleepy police station, Renee is pretty sure work will hold nothing more exciting than delivering speeding tickets. Then a murdered woman is found down by the creek on the outskirts of town. Leading the investigation, Renee uncovers a perplexing connection to the disappearance of two young women thirty years earlier. As she delves deeper and the mystery unfurls, intergenerational cruelties, endemic racism, and deep corruption show themselves, even as dark and bitter truths about the town and its inhabitants' past rise up and threaten to overwhelm the present.
D. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, Walter Isaacson (4.7* on Amazon, 552 pps. Science, non-fiction)
Amazon blurb: A Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg, Business Week, Time, and The Washington Post; a "compelling" account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with their moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020.
PS We will begin the course with By Any Other Name, Jodi Picoult. See the Schedule.
End of March, Tana French has another novel coming out, the third and last of the Cal Hooper series. The first two were The Searcher and The Hunter. This last one is The Keeper, too late I think for us to include in class.