Our next SML Book Club discussion will be held on Wednesday January 5, 2022 here at the Library. We will be discussing The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner. This historical ticks a lot of boxes...an Irish immigrant, a natural disaster, (the San Franscisco earthquake) a love story and a mystery. Here is a summary of the book from publisher Penguin/Random House:

Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin’s silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin’s odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn’t right. Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved.The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear.

Everyone is welcome to join the discussion. If you want library staff to order a copy of the book for you please call 920-596-2252 or you can place a hold on the book yourself in Infosoup/Bibliocommons.