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) Format: Kindle Edition
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.