How to Read a Book: A Novel

by Monica Wood

Overview

"The perfect pick to really light a fire under my book club, and yours....A reminder that goodness, and books, can still win in this world." —New York Times Book Review

"A beautiful, big-hearted treasure of a novel." —Lily King

National Bestseller * From the award-winning author of The One-in-a-Million Boy comes a heartfelt, uplifting novel about a chance encounter at a bookstore, exploring redemption, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.

Our Reasons meet us in the morning and whisper to us at night. Mine is an innocent, unsuspecting, eternally sixty-one-year-old woman named Lorraine Daigle…

Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher.

Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest.

Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

How to Read a Book is an unsparingly honest and profoundly hopeful story about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives. With the heart, wit, grace, and depth of understanding that has characterized her work, Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living. 

"A deeply humane and touching novel; highly recommended for book clubs and fans of Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures." — Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063243699
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	3
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright; a recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities; and a recipient of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband, Dan Abbott, and their cat, Susie.

Editorial Reviews

2024-03-09

After accidentally causing the death of a fellow driver, a Maine woman does time in prison and then reestablishes her life on the outside.

Violet Powell was just 19, drunk and high, when she caused the death of Lorraine Daigle, a beloved mother and kindergarten teacher. She is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 28 months in prison. Though she thinks she won’t be able to survive, she does. Prison turns out to be excruciating and monotonous, and while she’s serving time, Troy, her “boyfriend-slash-fiancé-slash-future-slash-everything,” never writes or visits. Even worse, her mother dies and her family blames her. The book club that meets every Friday is her solace, along with Kitten, Jennie Big, Aimee, Dawna-Lynne, and the seven other members of the group. The discussions, in which Violet and her fellow inmates get to exert some control over their lives by complaining about books, are a brief respite. Harriet, the former teacher who leads the group, and the other women are willing to see Violet’s humanity. Violet, who will never forgive herself for her bad choices, is both the best of herself and the worst of herself at every moment. When she’s released, her sister drops her in Portland with a prepaid one-year lease on a furnished apartment, money, clothes, and the information that no one in her town or family can forgive her or wants to see her again. She must find her own way. A chance meeting with Harriet in a bookstore turns into an unexpected meeting with Frank Daigle, husband of the woman whose death she caused. This gorgeously told story follows the first few months after Violet’s release, what she calls the shimmering time, as she tries to define herself on the outside. And at first, only Harriet and Frank are willing to see her for who she is.

A finely wrought story, beautifully told, with deeply memorable characters.

Kirkus Reviews

04/01/2024

A fatal drunk driving accident and a prison book club set the stage for Wood’s heartwarming if simplistic story of second chances (after The One-in-a-Million Boy). An intoxicated Violet Powell, 22, gets behind the wheel (the reasons why come out later) and kills Lorraine Daigle, a 61-year-old kindergarten teacher. Convicted of vehicular manslaughter and given a nearly two-year sentence, Violet is deeply remorseful and grateful for the prison book club led by Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher and widow. While visiting a bookstore, Harriet runs into an older man who turns out to be Lorraine’s widower, Frank, a retired machinist. In chapters from Frank’s point of view, the reader learns that his new job as handyman for the bookstore has given him a sense of purpose since Lorraine’s death the previous year. Then Violet is released early from prison, and she crosses paths with Harriet and Frank at the shop. The novel improves in the second half with an immersive section on Violet’s job assisting a scientist on researching cognition in parrots, and there are some poignant revelations about how she came to drive drunk that night and about the Daigles’ marriage. Unfortunately, the minor-key plot is fairly predictable. This one’s a bit too formulaic to stay with readers for long. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"The perfect pick to really light a fire under my book club, and yours....A charming, openhearted novel, deceptively easy to read but layered with sharp observations, hard truths and rich ideas....Nudges the conscience as much as it pulls at the heartstrings....This novel is a reminder that goodness, and books, can still win in this world." — New York Times Book Review

"An utter gem; funny, sweet, and moving." — People

"I laughed and wept my way straight through How to Read a Book. What a beautiful, big-hearted treasure of a novel!"
— Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Euphoria and Writers

"Monica Wood’s engaging novel of fresh starts follows Violet, a 20-something woman fresh out of prison; Harriet, a retiree who leads a book club inside the women’s prison; and Frank, the retired machinist whose wife was killed in the hit-and-run for which Violet served time. Shot through with clever asides and spiky feelings, the story ponders trust, reformation, and forgiveness." — Christian Science Monitor

"Gorgeously told...A finely wrought story, with deeply memorable characters." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Told with compassion and empathy, Wood’s tender novel explores the ways people can surprise themselves and others. A deeply humane and touching novel; highly recommended for book clubs and fans of Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures." — Booklist

"With compassion and honesty about the hard parts of life, Wood moves her characters toward redemption, connection, and even joy. How to Read a Book is a wry, hopeful celebration of literature, unlikely friendships, and the power of small gestures of connection." — Shelf Awareness

“What a master of plot and character Monica Wood is. I love the various worlds How to Read a Book took me to: a prison, a bookshop, and a laboratory, all in Portland, Maine. And I love how hopefully Wood writes about grief and second chances on behalf of her three protagonists. Surely everyone who reads this novel will want to offer Ollie, a voluble African grey parrot, a home.” — Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Boy in the Field and The Flight of Gemma Hardy

“A young female ex-con, a widower who was collateral damage, and a woman who runs the prison bookclub—three indelible voices (and let’s not forget one extraordinary parrot's), remind us that life is full of mysteries, and sometimes the ones we believe are unsolvable as the ones that might save us. About second chances (our lives need not be apologies), the weight of forgiveness, our bond with our books, and the stubborn way love can make us see a world shining with mercy, Wood’s new novel is both incandescent and unforgettable.”   — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You and Pictures of You 

From the Publisher

Eileen Stevens's openhearted performance will warm listeners to the core and inspire a sense of the true goodness in the world. Violet Powell is determined to make the most of her second chance after getting out of prison in Maine. She vows she won't be the sum of her worst act--killing a woman while driving drunk. She finds two unexpected allies in Harriet, the volunteer book club moderator at the prison, and Frank, the elderly widow of the woman Violet killed. As chapters alternate between Violet, Harriet, and Frank, Stevens adopts subtle shifts in tone and emphasis that reveal the core values and uncertainties of each character. Violet gets a job at a lab with African gray parrots, and Stevens has a wonderful time voicing the parrots, which leads to plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. A.B. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

MAY 2024 - AudioFile