Posted by Meredith on Wednesday, May 17, 2017
The Iowa City Public Library will host a discussion about the 2017 All Iowa Reads book, “Bottomland” by Michelle Hoover, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10, in Meeting Room B.
Based on the true story of Hoover's grandmother, “Bottomland” begins in Iowa in the years after World War I as the family attempts to rid themselves of the Anti-German sentiment that stains their name. But when the youngest two daughters vanish in the middle of the night, the family must piece together what happened while struggling to maintain their life on the unforgiving Iowa plains. Told in the voices of the family patriarch and his children, “Bottomland” is described as a haunting literary mystery that spans decades before its resolution.
“Bottomland” is Hoover’s second novel. She is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University and teaches at GrubStreet, where she leads the Novel Incubator program. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Her debut, “The Quickening,” was a 2010 Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read.” She is a native of Iowa and lives in Boston.
All Iowa Reads was established in 2003 as a way to foster a sense of unity through reading, with Iowans throughout the state coming together to read and discuss a single book title in the same year. The program is sponsored by the Iowa Center for the Book. For more information about All Iowa Reads, visit iowacenterforthebook.org.
The Library’s All Iowa Reads Book Discussion is part of the 2017 Adult Summer Reading Program, which begins June 1. For more information about the summer reading program, visit srp.icpl.org or call the Library at 319-356-5200.