Events Calendar

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of the grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia.

Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

Nora has always been a vibrant and strong presence: decisive, encouraging, young despite her years. When Jess visits her in the hospital, she is alarmed to find her grandmother frail and confused. It’s even more alarming to hear from Nora’s housekeeper that Nora had been distracted in the weeks before her accident and had fallen on the steps to the attic—the one place Jess was forbidden from playing in when she was small.

At loose ends in Nora’s house, Jess does some digging of her own. In Nora’s bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime—a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find…

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth. Above all, it is a beguiling and immensely satisfying novel from one of the finest writers working today.

Fee
A $2.50 fee is required to assist the organizer with costs related to A Novel Bunch.

Nourishment

We always go to a restaurant to dine after the discussion so plan to join us for this. We will eat at Cantina 76.

Is it actually good though? That is the question. Join us as we discuss books that have gone viral on TikTok. This month we will be reading “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab. Copies will be available behind the desk at the Cyrill-Westside Library. All adults are welcome.

Join us to discuss “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin. A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore.

December’s book is Zoulfa Katouh’s “As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow.” A love letter to Syria and its people, “Lemon Trees” is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility.

Join us for a discussion of “Fingersmith” by Sarah Waters. Copies of the book will be available for checkout at the AV Desk prior to the discussion.

Part of the event series: Book Clubs

Come join us for a unique healing experience. Where we practice and learn to trust our intuition with a loving and supportive community of eclectic healers.

Please bring any healing tools you enjoy using. This is a fun and safe space to grow and learn from each other.

There is a love donation of $15 for this event if able. Trade of services is also an option. Donations can be made to HierophantSilvana by Cashapp or Venmo. Or cash when you come.

Join our Novel Tea Book Club. We will be discussing books written by South Carolina authors that we have chosen to read. It’s up to you. Choose yours and bring it to share. No spoilers, please.

This month we will discuss “The Last Chance Library” by Freya Sampson. All adult patrons are invited to join us for a lively discussion.

Some of the best times we have at M. Judson come from our collaborations with Mission Grape and Camilla Kitchen, where we let the food and wine do the storytelling. One afternoon amongst the bottles, Chef Teryi got to talking about her not-so-distant tradition of Runaway Fridays, where a person might sneak off for a midday margarita and be all the better for it. And we figured we can do better than that.

So join us for our favorite getaway in The Gallery at M.Judson: Runaway Friday Wine Lunch. We’ll pair three wines from the same producer with three small plates from Camilla Kitchen, get some delicious education from Danny Baker and Chef Teryi, as well as a sweet little treat to go.

Wines will be for sale, tickets will be limited!

Join us for a Pop-Up with author Ashley Moses! She’ll be in store with her children’s book A Princess’ Crown.

Come meet Ashley, hear more about her work, and get a copy Saturday morning from 10am to noon!

ABOUT THE BOOK

A princess should always love her crown and be able to take care of it. Journey through this princess’ love of her hair and learn how to braid, maintain and more on the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashley Moses uses her Bachelors degree in Elementary Education as a literacy interventionist in Greenville, SC. Her love for graphics and photography, helped her illustrate this book. During her time out of the classroom, she and her husband operate their business, Xtreme Cheesecakez, while balancing a family of 6.
Ashley’s hope is to create a series of children books so girls can learn various ways to do and love their crown.

Fulfill your New Year’s Resolution to read more and scroll less! Stock up on books for the new year at our first Spartanburg Boozy Book Fair.

There was nothing like the elementary school book fair – the smell of new books in the air, the rush of racing your friends to find the next installment of your favorite series, and, if you were lucky, the crinkle of money from Mom in your pocket.

Life felt so much easier back then, didn’t it? Don’t you find yourself wishing from time to time that you could just go back?

This January, you can – but we’re doing it grown-up style.

Don’t miss our Boozy Book Fair at Ciclops Cyderi & Brewery (197 E St John St, Spartanburg, SC 29306) on Sunday, January 7th from 1-3pm!

Book categories will include:

-Geeks and Gamers

-Gothic and Ghastly

-Read the Rainbow

-Meet Cute Moments

-Truth ‘R Us

-Criminally Good Reads

…and much much more!

This event is FREE and open to the public, so bring your friends! Be sure to RSVP so we have the booze + books ready – we can’t wait to see you there.

In this meeting, we will discuss chapters 1-9 in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2).

Thank you, Whitney, for putting together our options for January! The group voted to read: Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine.

Synopsis
An urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science, challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government.

Metabolical weaves the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society into a completely new fabric by proving on a scientific basis a series of iconoclastic revelations, among them:

Medicine for chronic disease treats symptoms, not the disease itself
You can diagnose your own biochemical profile
Chronic diseases are not druggable, but they are foodable
Processed food isn’t just toxic, it’s addictive
The war between vegan and keto is a false war–the combatants are on the same side
Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government are on the other side
Making the case that food is the only lever we have to effect biochemical change to improve our health, Lustig explains what to eat based on two novel criteria: protect the liver, and feed the gut. He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope: this book explains what’s needed to fix all three.

We look forward to having author Terri Parlato spend an evening with us! Grab a cocktail and a seat because you’re not going to want to miss hearing her chat about her new novel A What Waits in the Dark.

Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.

BOOK SUMMARY

Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery – and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed…

When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.

Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?

Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.

Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Terri Parlato is the acclaimed author of domestic suspense, including All the Dark Places and What Waits in the Woods. Born and raised in upstate New York. She currently lives in a small north Georgia town with her husband and dog, Lucy. For more information, visit her online at TerriParlato.com.

Join us for a Pop-Up with author V.G. Watts! She’ll be in store with her novel An Eclipse of Moths.

Come meet Vivian, hear more about her work, and get a copy Saturday morning from 10am to noon!

ABOUT THE BOOK

For every second of the past five years, Teia’s Time-wield has held Luna suspended at the moment of her death. Some would say they brought it on themselves. Both are members of the infamous Moths, a gang of magic-wielders who prey on the kingdom from the shadows, pulling its strings in the name of finding the mantle for their vicious leader, Atlas. Teia never cared why they were chasing it. All that matters is that the relic can amplify magic far beyond the level of mortals. With it, he might even be able to turn back time.

He’s heard rumors that the mantle is stashed somewhere in the queen’s coffers, but Atlas is convinced it’s a trap—a repeat of the rumors that led to their disastrous failure five years ago. Going near the palace again is forbidden. But one night, when Teia catches a royal spy infiltrating their base, he receives a surprising offer: help the queen bring down Atlas, and be rewarded with anything he wants. Anything.

Teia rejects the offer, but his fortunes flip when he is captured by the queen’s army and imprisoned beneath the palace. Staying there any longer than necessary goes against everything he’s been told, but time is running out. Cracks in the spell holding Luna have already started to appear. There’s opportunity in this disaster: what he wants may lay within the palace walls. If he can play nice long enough to find it. If his own doubts about Atlas don’t start taking over. And if he can survive the machinations of the Moth God himself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vivian Watts started her writing life making character sheets for text RPGs with friends as a kid, then in fandom circles as a teen. She graduated from Clemson University with a B.A. in Modern Languages and has worked in everything from assistant teaching and tutoring to food service and retail, but stories have always had her heart. Vivian’s first book, AN ECLIPSE OF MOTHS, debuted this October. She is currently working on the sequel, A FLAME OF DEATH.

Bastard Out of Carolina

A profound portrait of family dynamics in the rural South and “an essential novel” (The New Yorker)

“As close to flawless as any reader could ask for . . . The living language [Allison] has created is as exact and innovative as the language of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye.” —The New York Times Book Review

The publication of Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina was a landmark event that won the author a National Book Award nomination and launched her into the literary spotlight. Critics have likened Allison to Harper Lee, naming her the first writer of her generation to dramatize the lives and language of poor whites in the South. Since its appearance, the novel has inspired an award-winning film and has been banned from libraries and classrooms, championed by fans, and defended by critics.

Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place that is home to the Boatwright family—a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn, hard-drinking men who shoot up each other’s trucks, and indomitable women who get married young and age too quickly. At the heart of this story is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a bastard child who observes the world around her with a mercilessly keen perspective. When her stepfather Daddy Glen, “cold as death, mean as a snake,” becomes increasingly more vicious toward her, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that tests the loyalty of her mother, Anney—and leads to a final, harrowing encounter from which there can be no turning back.

We would like to welcome you to an Open Forum discussion on the Tarot, Qabalah and the Path of Return B.O.T.A. style!

New Open Forum Series on the Tarot

In this series, we will take up each key of the Major Arcana singly and in sequence, first looking at their magical images, which will lead us into a discussion of the meaning of their symbols, and practical uses in our spiritual work.

To make this series accessible to all aspirants, regardless of experience, we will use only 4 B.O.T.A. publications as our resources:

The Tarot, Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, by Paul F. Case

The Highlights of Tarot, by Paul F. Case

Inspirational Thoughts on Tarot, by Rev. Ann Davies

The Book of Tokens, by Paul F. Case

We will have these books on hand to use during the Open Forum along with an essential resource of a good dictionary. You may also purchase them at our Online Store at: www.bota.org

This is also a forum to ask any questions you may have about the Order, our lesson curriculum, the Western Mysteries, and meet like-minded spiritual aspirants on every level of the Path of Return. This is a down-to-earth meeting with an encouraging and supportive vibe and sharing with each other. We are cultivating a community of TRUE B.O.T.A. aspirants who are interested in the Path of Return as taught by our Founders and our only teachers, Paul Foster Case and Ann Davies.

We look forward to having author Rachel Hawkins spend an evening with us on Thursday, January 15th starting at 7:30 pm! Grab a cocktail and a seat because you’re not going to want to miss hearing her chat about her newest novel The Heiress.

Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.

BOOK SUMMARY

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins returns with a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind. THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RACHEL HAWKINS is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, Reckless Girls, The Villa, and The Heiress, as well as multiple books for young readers. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.

We are so excited to welcome Rachel Hawkins to M. Judson for a Lunch & Lit event featuring The Heiress! Rachel will be on hand to talk, answer questions, and sign books, as we enjoy an incredible lunch at Soby’s! Get your ticket today!

BOOK SUMMARY

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins returns with a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind. THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RACHEL HAWKINS is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, Reckless Girls, The Villa, and The Heiress, as well as multiple books for young readers. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.