An enslaved groom in pre-Civil War Kentucky bonded to a young foal; a painting discarded in a junk pile; a modern-day Australian scientist and a Nigerian American art historian.
Only the most skillful of writers could weave these threads into a compelling story of art and science, love, obsession and our ongoing reckoning with racism. But again and again, both as a journalist and novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks has demonstrated just that sort of skill, a distinctive ability to bridge the past and the present, the “exotic” and the familiar with characters who feel instantly — surprisingly — familiar.
Brooks's first book, Nine Parts of Desire, made her an international bestselling author. That success continued when she turned to historical fiction, as she moved seamlessly from a village struck by the bubonic plague to the challenges of girl children left behind by an absent father during the Civil War; from a fictional account of the Sarajevo Haggadah to the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College and now, with Horse, the true story of the record-breaking 19th-century thoroughbred, Lexington.
Women on the Move: A Virtual Series
Friendships. Family. Ethical dilemmas. The tangled intricacies of power. Six leading female authors – New York Times bestsellers, Whiting Award winners, National Jewish Book Award finalists - who have tackled those questions in novels and memoirs will join Woman on the Move discuss the inspirations for their characters, what they love about writing and where they expect their imaginations will take them next.
This series is moderated by Zibby Owens, an author and editor whose multimedia empire of a publishing house, magazine, and podcast led New York Magazine to dub her “New York’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer,” Jordana Horn, a journalist at Kveller and Marjorie Shuster, Coordinator of Literary Events at Temple Emanu-El.
- Tuesday, February 7: Pam Jenoff on Code Name Sapphire: A World War 2 Novel
- Tuesday, February 14: Allegra Goodman on Sam
- Tuesday, February 21: Ann Leary on The Foundling
- Tuesday, February 28: Amy Bloom on In Love
- Tuesday, March 7: Geraldine Brooks, Horse
- Tuesday, March 14: Jennifer Rosner on Once We Were Home
Women on the Move is sponsored by The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation Author’ Series, honoring Theodore and Caroline Newhouse and Susan Newhouse.