The Stratford Library “Books Over Coffee” program will continue through the summer with special online discussions of Kim M. Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, on Wednesday, July 28 and Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce on Wednesday, August 25. The Zoom programs, hosted by Linda LiDestri and Tom Holehan, will be held between 12-1 pm.  The book talks are free and open to the public.

The bestselling historical fiction, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, follows Cussy Mary Carter, a packhorse librarian and her quest to bring books to the Appalachian community she loves. The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything—everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian.

In Miss Benson’s Beetle it is 1950 and London is still reeling from World War II. Margery Benson, a spinster schoolteacher with a passion for travel, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition. Saddled with a travelling companion the polar opposite of her, she travels to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist—the golden beetle of New Caledonia.

Limited reading copies of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and Miss Benson’s Beetleare available for loan at the library’s Circulation Desk.  All “Books Over Coffee” titles are available at the Library or on Kindle eReaders for loan.  Patrons can also download the eBook or eaudiobook through the OverDrive app at the Library.  The updated “Books Over Coffee” schedule through December 2021 is currently available at the Library.

For further information call: 203.385-4162 or register online and receive an invitation link for The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek at: https://stratfordlibrary.libcal.com/event/7743539 and Miss Benson’s Beetle at: https://stratfordlibrary.libcal.com/event/7743539.

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