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MADRE Book Club

MADRE is pleased to introduce a new book club feature for those of you already in book clubs and for those who would like to start one, but needed a little push. Each new issue of MADRE Speaks Online will now include a suggested work of fiction from the MADRE bookshelf that touches on themes related to our work with women around the world.

This is a great way to experience international literature that deals with real-world issues faced by women and families every day and share MADRE's work with friends and family. Along with each selection we will include a MADRE flier that highlights the ways in which MADRE, together with our sisters worldwide, addresses issues covered in the book. We encourage you to download and print this flier to bring to your book club discussion: that way, you’ll not only be bringing a great book to share, but also a concrete way for your book club to impact the issues you are reading about.

Recent Book Club Selections

• June/July 2008: Our latest selection is Unburnable: A Novel by Marie-Elena John. In her first novel, John explores the lives of three different generations of women against the cultural and historical backdrop of the struggles of the African diaspora in Dominica and the United States.
• April/May 2008: We start this year's book club with Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami. A tale of emigration from the global south, Lalami's novel traces the lives of four people as they attempt to escape from the grim realities of poverty and global economic inequity.
• November/December 2007: Unbowed by Wangari Maathai. Maathai's autobiography is of an unintentional world leader: a Kenyan woman who chooses to challenge social discrimination and political oppression in order to protect the country she calls home. A powerful and beautifully written account of Maathai's life, this book explains the motivation and methods of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
• July/August 2007: Our second book club entry is Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat, a longtime MADRE member. Told through a child’s eyes, this poignant novel reveals the effects of rape, violence, and political instability in Haiti on twelve-year-old Sophie Caco and the women in her family.
• May/June 2007: Persepolis: Volumes 1 & 2 (The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return) by Marjane Satrapi. This graphic memoir reveals the effects of war, displacement, and religious fundamentalism on Satrapi and her family and friends as she grows up in Iran.