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Shakespeare & Beyond

The Reading List: Family Stories

The end of the year brings a host of feasts and celebrations and with them the most complex of all relationships: family. From long held secrets to contentious siblings to parental ties, our selection of past Folger Book Club picks offers a wide range of ways to reflect on the ties that bind us.

Black Cake
by Charmaine Wilkerson

In present-day California, Byron and Benny are left to unravel a mystery by their recently deceased mother in the form of a black cake and a voice recording.

As the siblings learn about their mother’s tumultuous, previously unknown, past, “We are left to think about the things we inherit from our ancestors — physical traits, mental and emotional strife, even cultural attachments, like a beloved recipe that has the power to bring us home, if only in our minds.” (The Washington Post)

 

The Weird Sisters
by Eleanor Brown

Three very different sisters from a Shakespeare-loving household return to their childhood home in a moment of family difficulty only to find themselves slipping into old familiar patterns. Equal parts loving and combative, their shifting relationships remind us that sometimes going back is the only way forward.

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler book cover

Booth
by Karen Joy Fowler

Ever felt overshadowed by a sibling? Edwin Booth can relate. A famous and acclaimed Shakespearean actor (and son of the same), Edwin is not nearly as remembered today as his younger brother, John Wilkes. Beginning in 1822 and charting the Booth family’s history through the non-John siblings, Booth is a rich portrayal of family relationships colliding with history.

Two versions of The Taming of the Shrew

Vinegar Girl
by Anne Tyler

Dating Dr. Dil
by Nisha Sharma

Speaking of sibling rivalries, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew offers a great example in Kate and Bianca, who find themselves reimagined in two different contemporary adaptations.

Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl, part of the Hogarth series, hinges on a green card plot while Nisha Sharma’s steamy romance Dating Dr. Dil has her protagonists motivated by financial concerns. In both novels, the tensions between the Kate characters’ desires and family needs are a constant theme, demonstrating the pressures that are sometimes put on the eldest sibling’s shoulders.

However you celebrate—and whatever you choose to read—we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

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A Mass for Christmas Eve

A Mass for Christmas Eve

For its annual holiday concert, Folger Consort presents Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noel, based on captivating, folksong-like noels steeped in the composer’s characteristic balance of irresistible dance rhythms and sophisticated harmonies.
Fri, Dec 6 – Sun, Dec 15, 2024
Folger Theatre