The Speed Merchant by Alex Bertea, local author

Next Meeting and Q&A
When: September 24
Hostess: Catherine (Author will be present to answer any questions)

Ex-clandestine operations pilot Guy Cook is down and out, working unfulfilling jobs on the fringes of the air racing circuit. When his one-time boss from a covert air contractor shows up with a surprising offer, Cook jumps at the chance. But what starts out as an exciting reentry into his former life quickly goes sideways as the danger stacks up, and only his skills and abilities can bring him out alive… < Read More

Saanenland resident (and husband of our lovely member Katrin) Alex Bertea was born in Southern California, where he grew up going to airshows and visiting out-of-the-way airfields to play on derelict World War II warplanes. He has flown numerous aircraft, having stick time in a Douglas AD-5N, Grumman HU-16 Albatross, and a Grumman C-1 Trader among others. He is a former reserve police officer, an EMT, and an emergency radio communicator. He has a BA in History from Boston University, an MLIS degree from the University of Washington, and his interests include writing, flying, sailing, biathlon, cross-country ski marathons, and backcountry hiking.

Alex Bertea, the author

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

Next Meeting

When: August 27

Hostess: Vré

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize 

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.

In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating, but her brain is still active - for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep  ... < Read More

Girl, Woman, Other

Next Meeting

When: June 25

Hostess: Cristina

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE

“A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humor. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn away from its momentum.”―Booker Prize Judges

Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and the first black woman to receive this highest literary honor in the English language. Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal... < Read More

Flowers in the Attic: A Stage Play

Next Meeting

When: May 28, 2021

Hostess: Irina

The only official stage play of V.C. Andrews’s enduring classic of forbidden love—adapted by Andrew Neiderman (The Devil’s Advocate). Experience in this new format the original story that captured the world’s imagination and earned V.C. Andrews a fiercely devoted readership.

At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent, and struggling to stay alive . . .

They were a perfect family, golden and... < Read More

Zuleikha - A Novel

Next Meeting

When: April 30, 2021
Hostess: Aida

Soviet Russia, 1930. Zuleikha, the “pitiful hen,” lives with her brutal husband Murtaza and her mother-in-law in a small Tartar village. When Murtaza is executed by communist soldiers, she is sent into exile to a remote region on the Angara River in Siberia. Hundreds die of hunger and exhaustion on the journey and over the first difficult winter, yet exile is the making of Zuleikha.

As she gets to know her fellow survivors ― among them an eccentric German doctor, a ... < Read More

The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

Next Meeting

When: March 26, 2021
Hostess: Diana

A carjacker lurking in a shopping mall parking lot. An abusive husband pounding on the door. A disgruntled employee brandishing a gun. These days, no one is safe from the specter of violence. But according to Gavin de Becker, everyone can feel safer, act safer, be safer -- if they learn how to listen to their own sixth sense about danger.

De Becker has made a career of protecting people and predicting violent behavior. His firm handles security for many of the leading figures in Hollywood ... < Read More

Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science, and Love

Next Meeting

When: February 26, 2021

Hostess: Kay

Lab Girl is a book about work and about love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren's remarkable stories: about the discoveries she has made in her lab, as well as her struggle to get there; about her childhood playing in her father's laboratory; about how lab work became a sanctuary for both her heart and her hands; about Bill, the brilliant, wounded man... < Read More